Solve the right problem
“A great solution to the wrong problem will always fail,” says Nielsen Norman Group’s Sarah Gibbons in her three-minute video on “User Need Statements in Design Thinking.” Nielsen Norman Group consults on website usability. However, much of what Gibbons discusses applies to other written materials, too. User need statement Gibbons defines a user need statement […]
Describing an interview-based assignment to writers
Recently a company contacted me to write an interview-based post for its blog. I’ve often done this for blog posts that show off the expertise of the company’s staff. However, what was unusual about this request was that I’d need to interview experts outside the company for the post. The need to find external experts […]
One idea to a sentence
“One idea to a sentence” is the title of a section in Theodore Bernstein’s The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage. It’s also a darned good idea for financial writers. Bernstein advises this approach for “those kinds of writing in which instant clarity and swift reading, which are other ways of saying quick […]
Down with nouns!
Joe Moran, the author of First You Write a Sentence. hates how people abuse nouns, sometimes abetted by the passive voice. He says Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann defended himself at the Nuremberg War Trials “With an impenetrable shield of nouns.” For example, “He described his role as ‘emigration specialist.’ The Auschwitz death trains were […]
MISTAKE MONDAY for May 25: Can YOU spot what’s wrong?
Can you spot what’s wrong in the image below? Please post your answer as a comment. Oh my, I don’t know how this mistake happened. I post these challenges to raise awareness of the importance of proofreading.