Monday, April 02, 2018

Plain Language



One of my current consulting projects involves translating technical policies into plain language. I meet with a highly skilled team and ask a lot of "dumb" questions meant to illuminate just what they really want to say.

It's interesting how often that process reveals differences of opinion on the meaning of various policies; differences that had been hidden by vague, bureaucratic, language. Jargon also plays a role.

Every time the illumination happens, a small thrill occurs as people realize they've been saying the same thing for a very long time and meaning something very different.

Another small victory in the long battle to communicate.

No comments: