Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points— in complete sentences - Delivering the goods quickly and clearly

HBR Guide to Better Business Writing - Bryan A. Garner 2013

Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points— in complete sentences
Delivering the goods quickly and clearly

A mathematician once told me that there are really only four numbers in the world: one, two, three, and many. There’s something to that: Four items just seem to be one too many for most people to hold in their memory. But a proposal, a report, or any other piece of business writing feels underdeveloped when it’s supported by only one or two points.

So write down your three main points as full sentences, and spell out your logic as clearly as you can. That way, you’ll force yourself to think through your reasons for recommending a vendor, for example, or pitching an offer to a client—and you’ll make a stronger case.

If you try to simply think things out as you write, you’ll run into trouble because you won’t really know yet what you’re hoping your reader will think or do. You’ll flail about, gradually clarifying your point as you make several runs at it. In the end, after multiple attempts, you may finally figure out what you have to say, but you probably won’t say it in a way that your reader can follow.

An example of finding your focus

Let’s say your name is Carol Sommers, and you work at a small management-consulting firm. Your boss, Steve, owns the business and is considering acquiring a 17,000-square-foot building as his new office. Because you’re the office manager, Steve has asked you to think through the logistics and to write up your recommendations before the company makes an offer to purchase the building. At first, you’re at a loss—there are so many issues to sort through. But you’ve got to start somewhere.

So before you write your memo, you put on your Madman hat and brainstorm a list of considerations:

✵ Ownership

✵ Maintenance

✵ Buildout

✵ Security

✵ Offices vs. cubicles

✵ Real-estate values—comparables?

✵ The move—bids on movers?

✵ Timing

✵ Tax consequences

✵ Employee and visitor parking

✵ Environmental inspection and related issues

✵ Smooth transitioning: phone and Internet service, mail forwarding, new stationery, updating business contacts, subscriptions, etc.

✵ Insurance

✵ Leaving current landlord on good terms

✵ Taking signage to new location?

These are just topics, not fully formed thoughts. But now that you have a rough list, you can start the Architect phase of writing and categorize in threes.

Steve’s responsibilities (before acquisition):

✵ Consider an environmental inspection to make sure that the building has no hidden issues. Our commercial realtor can help.

✵ Check with our accountant to find out what tax consequences we might have depending on how we time the closing.

✵ Ask the accountant and perhaps a tax lawyer whether Steve should own the property personally, whether the company should own it, or whether a newly formed entity (an LLC, for example) should own it. There may be liability issues.

My responsibilities (before acquisition):

✵ Cost out insurance coverage.

✵ Interview contractors for building out the space to our satisfaction. (Note to self: Confirm that we can roll the buildout into the mortgage.)

✵ Cost out the annual bill for providing the kind of security we currently have.

My responsibilities (postacquisition):

✵ Contract for maintenance (cleaning and trash services, lawn and parking-lot care).

✵ Plan the move, with a smooth transition in operations (the physical move, mail forwarding, phone and Internet, new stationery, address updates, announcement to customers, moving signage, etc.).

✵ Help Steve plan the architectural buildout to foster collaboration and use space efficiently.

To come up with all this, put yourself in Steve’s place, imagining what you’d want your office manager to think of to help you do your job better. But it also takes a little legwork—for example, talking to people at firms that have recently changed locations or acquired buildings. Can’t find anyone like that through your network? Ask the commercial realtor to put you in touch with one or two of its clients.

For each stage, we’ve listed the three big issues—at least what we think they are. Look how easy it is now to begin your Carpenter work (writing a useful memo to Steve):

Memo

To: Steve Haskell

From: Carol Sommers

Re: The Prospective Purchase of 1242 Maple Avenue

Date: April 12, 2012

As you requested, I’ve thought through the logistics of purchasing and moving into the Maple Avenue property. Here are my suggestions for each stage of the process.

Now

I’d like your approval to tackle the following tasks immediately because they’ll give us a more complete picture of how expensive the acquisition and move would be:

✵ Cost out insurance coverage.

✵ Interview contractors for building out the space to our satisfaction. (I’ve checked with the bank to see if we can roll the buildout into the mortgage, and we can.)

✵ Cost out the annual bill for providing the kind of security we currently have.

Preclosing

If you decide to go forward with the purchase and your offer is accepted, I’ll take care of these items before we close on the loan:

✵ Arrange for at least one thorough inspection of the building.

✵ Work with our accountant, to the extent you’d like, to get papers in order for obtaining the bank financing you mentioned.

✵ Ensure that all due-diligence deadlines are met.

After Closing

After closing, I’ll get into the nuts and bolts of the move:

✵ Help you plan the architectural buildout to foster collaboration and use space efficiently.

✵ Plan the move, with a smooth transition in operations (the physical move, mail forwarding, phone and Internet, new stationery, address updates, announcement to customers, moving signage, etc.).

✵ Contract for maintenance (cleaning and trash services, lawn and parking-lot care).

Issues for You to Think About

While I’m attending to the details above, you might want to:

✵ Consider environmental and structural inspections to make sure the building has no hidden issues. Our commercial realtor says he can provide guidance—I’d be happy to set up a meeting if you like.

✵ Check with our accountant to find out what tax consequences we might have depending on how we time the closing.

✵ Ask the accountant and perhaps a tax lawyer whether you should own the property personally (highly unlikely), whether Haskell Company should own it, or whether a newly formed entity (such as an LLC) should own it. You or the company may face liability issues with outright ownership.

Of course, I’m always on hand to take on whatever tasks you need. Just let me know.

Prewriting in threes resulted in a clear, useful memo. It helped us forestall writer’s block, organize the material, and make concise, well-reasoned recommendations.

But did you notice that the finished memo breaks things down into four categories, not three? As hard as I tried to think of everything before writing the memo, I couldn’t. Looking at my preliminary list, I identified a gap in time—a period in which there would be other necessary tasks. So I added the preclosing category and wrote those items on the fly. But I probably wouldn’t have come up with them if I hadn’t started with a plan. Organizing my main points in sets of three helped me see the preclosing gap; after that, filling it in wasn’t difficult.

The order of categories changed, too. Why move Steve’s tasks from the beginning to the end? The memo was about what you, Carol Sommers, the office manager, could do for Steve. To think of your responsibilities, you needed to think of Steve’s. That was your starting point for brainstorming—but not for your memo.

You couldn’t very well lead by telling your boss what he needs to do. That’s not your place, and that’s not what he asked for. So Steve’s to-dos can go at the end, as helpful reminders. That way, you can focus his attention mainly on items you’ll take care of to make his decisions easier.

Recap

✵ Find your focus by first generating a list of topics to cover.

✵ Develop these raw ideas into full sentences and categorize your main points in sets of three.

✵ Arrange these sets in a logical order, keeping your reader’s needs in mind.