Is this ‘decision-making information’ or ‘hm that’s interesting’ information?
I. LOVE. One-pagers. I really do. For a few reasons.
They're easy to return to, as a safe port to when the info-chaos gets too much (“what are we saying?”).
They're easy to show around to colleagues, bosses, clients, to get buy in and sign off (assume busy people have crazy low attention spans).
They're easy for clients to show around to their colleagues, bosses and stakeholders, to get buy in and sign off (easy to add to wider presentations).
They make it very hard for you to say fluff and others not notice it’s fluff (an underrated benefit).
They are, for all the above reasons, more likely to get us to act on the information within (the real point!).
Writer and poet Kahlil Gibran put it best:
“A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.”
I could spend 10,000 words talking about how to get to simplicity you need a lot of work, but i won't.
But always remember that doing a comprehensive job is not the real job. Simplifying all that into something that travels within the business is the job.
Think of it this way: a little knowledge that acts is like a nice little lubricant for your thinking to glide more easily through people's minds. Weird. But true.
Or, think of it like ‘decision making information’. This is what a CEO i once presented to asked for in a meeting. Is this ‘here’s what to do next’ information? Or just ‘hmmm that’s interesting’ information?
Check your ratios (a little ‘that's interesting information’ is not a terrible thing, but make sure it's like 40% of it, tops) and edit accordingly.
