Bette Davis, the actress, had a habit of repeating back to Directors exactly what they asked her to do. She explained in her biography that she did this to confirm her understanding. Some directors thought she was pushy, difficult as a result. And she was. But she wanted to be sure, and that there was […]
Category Archives: Business Writing
Top tips for Business Writing. Learn how to write reports, proposals, emails, and other types of writing used to communicate with different audiences. Business writing is a also known as business communication and professional writing.
28
Sep
Sep
Need a product features matrix? If you have one product and one feature only, you probably don’t. If you can’t remember every feature, and the different benefits each offers, and the use cases, and the business rules, then you may need a feature matrix. Not convinced? Ever heard of Backrub? Well, grasshopper… Once upon a […]
25
Sep
Sep
One of my friends, TP, doesn’t believe in buying books anymore. Or buying anything for that matter. “It’s all free,” he said. “You can get it on the internet. It’s all out there. You just need to search”. I think he’s overlooking something. Yes, some things are free but you only value what you really […]
21
Sep
Sep
Summary: Key content requirements for software product feature pages are: introduce features, answer questions, and provide user stories. The Purpose of Product Feature Pages The product feature page is the front door to sales. It should be designed for customers searching for products that solves specific problems. This means that when designing the features page […]
12
Sep
Sep
Know the difference between affect and effect? Or where to use that but not which? Or when to use which but not with a comma before it? I know. MS Word forbids it. But can expect from a bot? Anyway… You could fill several multi-story car parks with people who — or is it that? […]
11
Sep
Sep
I’ll be finished by nine, you tell yourself. After that, maybe a bit of Netflix. That’s at 7.30. Then someone comes over. “Just popped over for a minute.” You put the kettle on. 8.45 they’re still there. “I hate to be rude”, you stammer, “but there’s this report thingy…” It’s a bit awkward but they […]
09
Sep
Sep
Noreen Malone, senior editor at New York magazine, admits what everyone else thinks about those pesky em-dashes. “The problem with the dash—as you may have noticed!—is that it discourages truly efficient writing. It also—and this might be its worst sin—disrupts the flow of a sentence. Don’t you find it annoying—and you can tell me if […]
14
Jul
Jul
Bertrand Russell, especially in his book, Why I Write, offers great advice on how to move from wordy, verbose, lengthy, purple prose to shorter text without losing any meaning. Here’s the three step formula he provides: Never use a long word if a short word will do. If you want to make a statement with […]
12
Jul
Jul
Q: Where can I find work as a white paper writer? Getting your first project is the hardest. Once you’ve got this under your belt, it becomes easier. I’d suggest the following: Setup a 10 page website. Write about the benefits, sales opportunities, branding development and web traffic that can be made from well written, […]
Rule #1! You can’t describe what you don’t understand. We agree? You can try and fudge it, but the people reviewing the document will see through it. I will. You would. Maybe you can try and cheat by cobbling together material that others have written, but it doesn’t work. Anyway, that’s not writing. It’s just […]
04
Jun
Jun
What are the three documents most potential customers wants to read? I’d say it’s white papers, case studies, and product brochures. The first sets the scene, the second shows you how it works, and the third… this tells you how and why it works. Of the three, product brochures are the least sexy. But they’re […]
02
Jun
Jun
What happens the moment you hear, ‘I’m going to be brutally honest with you’? I tend to filter out the honest part and tense up, wondering about the brutal part. You the same? You sense what’s coming next. It doesn’t feel good. We’re ‘brutally honest’ when someone annoys us but we can’t say it to their […]
30
May
May
How do you track Change Management tasks? Here’s how I do it using Excel. If you look at a large project as many small tasks chained together, it’s easier to start. Learn more about these excel Change Management templates here We often get stuck with large projects because we can’t find the right place to […]
The conclusion section to this strategy report, eGovernment Strategies, The Case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from Dr. Ali M. Al-Khouri, United Arab Emirates, provides an excellent template on how to summarize the main points in a strategy document. This conclusion section is divided into five paragraphs: Problem statement: need to develop new capabilities […]
If you’ve ever been stuck with writer’s block, read on. I don’t know about you but when I started writing as a teenager, I often found I could get so far, often twenty or thirty pages into my novels, but then I’d lose direction, flap about, lose momentum, and finally stop. The annoying part was […]
