Less is more (influential)

Last week I wrote that perfection comes from including only the essential. Let me explain one way to apply that thinking to an audit report or similar (as taught to me when I worked at a Big Four firm).

Let’s say that the work being reported has identified 10 issues. Naturally some of those will be more significant or important than others.

One approach may be to list all 10 issues as findings with reasons/evidence, implications and recommendations. To be more convincing convincing you might list them in descending order of significance.

This seems a persuasive way of reporting the findings. The trouble is, the items at the bottom of the list (or several pages into it) are weak, either because the implications of the findings are *relatively* trivial and/or the evidence behind the findings is not as strong.

This relative weakness gives the recipient of the report an opportunity to be critical. They could resist the inclusion of those findings, either explicitly or implicitly. This can then result in their view of the overall report being diminished, potentially to the point where they can justify to themselves that the report can be ignored.

What my audit partner taught me was to include only the strongest handful of findings and recommendations. That way, the one at the bottom of the list is still significant and well-evidenced, making the whole report more impactful.

If you feel that the minor items must be included in the report consider putting them in an appendix. That way they are reported but you are signalling to the reader that they are not essential to understanding the report’s main message(s).