Writing Tips from the President’s Daily Brief: Formatting
I’ve been sharing tips I learned writing for and editing the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), which help to write for any executive. Which…
I’ve been sharing tips I learned writing for and editing the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), which help to write for any executive. Which I’ve illustrated with Star Wars/Trek examples, because … well why not. In this article I’ll delve into the boring, but very important, world of formatting.
The key, as for all my tips, is that executives are incredibly busy. This is true for the President, your company’s CEO, or the head of Starfleet Command.
So you want to format so they can quickly skim and understand your writing. Otherwise they won’t read it, and will never know how smart you are.
Below I’ll explain the following points that help with this:
Call out main points
Use bullets or lists
Lots of white space
Special considerations for emails
A note on slide decks and graphics
1. Call Out Main Points
In a previous article I advised putting your Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) and supporting your argument in an “inverted pyramid” of most to least important evidence. Using bold or other font emphasis for the bottom line or other main points can enhance this, if you do it right.
Here’s an example. Bold in the first sentence calls out the main point, separating it from the rest of the text. (Some people call for bold italics together which is fine, though I find it not necessary.)
We judge that Anakin Skywalker has turned to the Dark Side of the Force. He secretly married Padme and, according to her, has been muttering maniacally about finding a way to allow her to live forever. Additionally, there are reports of murdered younglings at the Jedi Temple while Anakin was in the area. And, he spends significant time with Chancellor Palpatine, who we judge is really a Sith Lord because his voice becomes deeper and more evil every time he takes an authoritarian action.
However, calling out main points in formatting can be overused. For example, this version is exactly the same in substance, but I’d argue harder to understand:
We judge that Anakin Skywalker has turned to the Dark Side of the Force. He secretly married Padme and, according to her, has been MUTTERING MANIACALLY about finding a way to allow her to live forever. Additionally, there are reports of murdered younglings at the Jedi Temple while Anakin was in the area. And, he spends significant time with Chancellor Palpatine, who we judge is really a Sith Lord because his voice becomes deeper and more evil EVERY TIME HE TAKES AN AUTHORITARIAN ACTION.
When so many things are called out as important, nothing is.
2. Use Bullets or Lists
Most of us were taught to write in paragraphs in school, but bullets or lists are a great way to visually separate supporting points from your bottom line. Take the same example above (italics added to separate it from the rest of the article):
We judge that Anakin Skywalker has turned to the Dark Side of the Force.
He secretly married Padme and, according to her, has been muttering maniacally about finding a way to allow her to live forever.
There are reports of murdered younglings at the Jedi Temple while Anakin was in the area.
He spends significant time with Chancellor Palpatine, who we judge is really a Sith Lord because his voice becomes deeper and more evil every time he takes an authoritarian action.
This is even easier to skim and internalize. The main point is highlighted not only by font but visually. The evidence points are distinct from each other. A busy reader can quickly skim and understand what’s needed.
3. Lots of White Space
This is simple. Use lots of white space. “Text bricks” are hard to read. Bullets help create white space, but just make sure not to overload bullets either.
Let’s take the same example above, slightly modified.
We judge that Anakin Skywalker has turned to the Dark Side of the Force.
He secretly married Padme and, according to her, has been muttering maniacally about finding a way to allow her to live forever.
There are reports of murdered younglings at the Jedi Temple while Anakin was in the area.
He spends significant time with Chancellor Palpatine, who we judge is really a Sith Lord because his voice becomes deeper and more evil every time he takes an authoritarian action. Palpatine was also seen murdering Mace Windu with Sith lightning power. And, we recently learned that he was the Sith Lord backing the Trade Federation’s attack, as well as Count Dooku and General Grevious.
That last bullet is getting a little “text bricky.” And, you’ll notice it’s starting to become less related to the main point and spinning off into a new one, explaining how we know Palpatine is a Sith Lord.
If you find yourself writing a long bullet like this, it’s either a sign you need to break it into multiple bullets, or perhaps start a new paragraph with a different main point.
4. Special Considerations for Emails
When I was at CIA, my or my team’s end product was usually a paper, which had a specifically-formatted template depending on the intended audience.
I have found in the tech sector that often the end product is an email, as there isn’t as much of an apparatus in place for formal presentation. This could be an email I write in a few minutes, or something my team spends weeks refining on a strategic issue.
Given that, here are a few specific things I do differently for emails:
Title in the subject line. This may be obvious, but there’s no need to repeat a title if it’s in the subject of your email.
Add a greeting to explain why you’re writing. This could be just a few words or a sentence. For example: “Captain Kirk, this is to provide you the latest intelligence on Romulan cloaking technology and the threat to the Enterprise.”
Remember they might read on a phone. This means you need to be even more aware of clear formatting and avoiding text bricks. Additionally, make sure charts and in-line images show up clearly as these often look different on mobile.
5. A Note on Slide Decks and Graphics
Finally, there’s a whole art to creating clear presentations in slide decks and visually compelling graphics. This is not a strength of mine so I’m not going to go into great detail here, but suffice it to say the key ideas are the same: have a clear main point without extraneous stuff, call it out visually, and use lots of white space.
But, with slides and graphics you have to be extra special careful not to overload them with too much information. As the US military shows us, this is a really easy trap to fall into.
I love my friends and colleagues in the US military, but their Powerpoint presentations drove me nuts.
I mean, check this out: https://www.wired.com/2010/09/revealed-pentagons-craziest-powerpoint-slide-ever/.
Also I spent about five minutes searching for any Star Wars or Star Trek information presented in military Powerpoint slide style, and couldn’t find any. If an enterprising reader is aware of any please send it my way.
So there you have it, some tips to make sure that busy people can easily read and internalize your argument. Thanks for reading!