Writing to a fixed-length is an exercise that benefits the author by forcing you to distill your thinking down to the essence of the idea you want to convey. I was skeptical about this at first. I, like many software engineers, prefer code to documentation. However, the benefit of this particular format is immense, and it is realized by introducing a size limit: The document must be either 1 or 6 pages in length, and no where in between. Adopting this length limit forces the writer to iteratively refine the message down to its essence without any cruft or tangential thoughts. Through this process you become clearer and more confident in your own thinking. The result is a document that is crystal clear, that will be easy for the reader to grasp, and that you can leverage to gain traction for your idea.
The document should focus on a single key message, regardless of whether it’s intended to be 1 or 6 pages long. The 1-page format lends itself well to a call for action, a proposal you’re looking for approval and consensus on, or a status update. The 6-page document is for deep exploration of a problem space, proposing potential solutions and examining the tradeoffs between those solutions. After a lot of practice, I can turn out a 1-pager in a day, sometimes less. However, a 6-page document is usually a multi-week effort to amass the data and construct the narrative, especially if it’s being created as a collaborative effort. Don’t cheat when you write the document. Use a 10-11pt font with sensible margins. The value in this process is distilling the content down to fit on that single page.
The most important part of the process is getting started. Don’t overthink it, don’t try to perfect it as you go, just get pen to paper or fingers to keys. Getting the raw ideas written down will often result in a document that’s 2, or even 3, pages long. That’s normal, and speaks to the value of this process: clarifying your thinking and reducing it down to the essence of the message you want to convey. Don’t be afraid to start off with bullet points or hastily written notes, but be prepared to craft these points into a narrative as you edit the doc. Your doc should be a narrative, a story that introduces and explains your idea as a journey. Bullet points, headings and other structural artifacts have no place in the finished version. They distract the reader and disrupt the flow of the document.
How you structure the narrative is the structure of the document itself. Don’t worry about calling out the purpose of the doc or referencing other paragraphs. Let the narrative flow as if you’re talking someone through the idea in a way that’s linear and mindful of the readers attention. The first paragraph should be a self-contained summary of what you’re going to expand on in the rest of the document, and the first sentence in each paragraph should serve as a summary for that paragraph. Supporting data can be included in an appendix, but reading the appendix must be strictly optional. That is, the document must stand alone in achieving its purpose without the appendices.
A great document passes the “so what?” test and is aligned to the single message you intend to convey. That is, the reader knows exactly what you want them to understand, and most importantly what you want them to do next. If the document leaves the reader thinking “I get it, but so what?”, then you need to be more explicit in the actions you want the reader to take on. That may be something as subtle as building a shared vision around a proposal, or something as explicit as requesting approval to proceed. Similarly the document should address common questions before the reader needs to remember to ask them. This is where peer feedback can be particularly helpful. Be mindful of what questions a reader asks and then work the answer to that question back into the narrative. Lastly, try printing out the document and reading the hard copy when you edit. This offline editing process can sometimes be more conducive to iterative improvement as opposed to hacking away at the document in the app of your choosing.
