July 5, 2022

Synthesizing

This article is about big writing projects – the ones that are important, strategic, and usually due on short notice…the ones we nevertheless put off for as long as possible.

I’m sorry to say that these are also the projects that remind me of those arduous late-night term papers in college. They are the documents that require us to quickly read and digest information from multiple sources, extract what’s important, and synthesize it into a concise and compelling narrative.

It can be a slog. Here’s what I’ve learned.

Don’t tear your hair out

• Get ready. Assemble and organize the people and material you need to inform your writing.

• Educate your team about what’s involved, what you need from each person, when, and why it’s important. This may be a new experience for some of the people involved.

• Become an expert on what the recipient wants to learn from this document. Don’t let mountains of contributing material divert your attention.

• Plan ahead. It takes time to synthesize all your material into a clear and persuasive document. Unfortunately, there may be no way around it.

• Stay calm. Things can get messy in the middle. Take a break and do something different. Then return for a fresh look and, likely, faster progress.

• Leverage deadlines. Take advantage of what can be an unfortunate timetable to keep the attention of everyone involved.

Food for thought
Dive in. This is an iterative process: read, organize, read again, extract what’s important, distill and integrate your material for easy consumption by the reader, edit, and likely do it all again (and maybe even again).

Be flexible. Priorities can change. What was considered a priority at the project’s outset may be replaced by something else, requiring new writing and/or a change of emphasis.

Assess balance. Periodically, step back from the details to make sure you’re communicating the big picture and the impact you expect.

Be patient
Your project may involve coalescing different points of view from staff in very different roles. All are important, but you may need extra editing to get it right.

The sunny side
It’s immensely satisfying to incorporate all those piles of information into a coherent story that may not have been told before, or told in the way that you’re writing about it now.

The result can build pride in organizations, uncover new strategies, and help launch work that makes the world a better place.