One of my former bosses always wanted “KISS” reports. Keep it simple, stupid.
It’s easier to say than do. Us technical folk think in technical terms but, here’s the thing, when we communicate to non-technical people we need to simplify.
Here’s an example of what not to do. Recently I got an email from The North Face explaining a data breach. It began …
๐๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 13, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, […]
I think it is a fair assumption that only a small percentage of North Faceโs customers work in IT. I donโt know how many of that group would talk about โexternal threat actorsโ or use a word like “remediate”. The customers donโt care about how the company fixed the problem; they care about their personal data.
I rewrote the opening 124 words in 63 words, and reduced the reading age from 12 to 7. My version begins:
๐๐ฏ 13 ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด.ย ย ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐น ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ.
If you want your emails and reports to be understood by non-technical readers you need to write less and use simpler words.
