
Ask HN: How have you adapted your writing for executives/non-technical staff? - visioneers
I work in a department that largely uses technology to accumulate data for compliance and investigations. Recently I had an interview for a promotion where a major concern was that I won&#x27;t be able to write reports and explain situations in ways that will be easily understood by the recipients (namely executives, outside agencies, and other employees in the office).<p>I&#x27;m absolutely struggling with how to change the way I write to be less complex, when I myself don&#x27;t recognize it as being verbose or overly complex in structure. In all the past reports I&#x27;ve written, only maybe once or twice has anything been mentioned by management (usually that they wanted me to remove a word because they didn&#x27;t know what it meant).<p>Has anyone else experienced this, or have any advice or know of any resources that might be able to help me change the way I write to adhere to different reading comprehension levels?
======
itamarst
It's always hard recognizing problems in one's own writing. But to give an
example:

> "I'm absolutely struggling with how to change the way I write to be less
> complex, when I myself don't recognize it as being verbose or overly complex
> in structure."

could be written more shortly and simply as:

> "I don't believe my writing is verbose or complex, so I don't know how to
> make it simpler."

Not picking on you, if I were writing that I'd probably end up with something
closer to your first version in the first draft. Which is why you want to
revise into a second draft.

Luckily there's a book that can help: "Revising Prose" by Lanham
([http://amzn.to/2f9pUjN](http://amzn.to/2f9pUjN)). Your local library
probably has a copy. It's pretty entertaining read, too.

If you want a more extensive guide, "Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace"
([http://amzn.to/2f9zqDp](http://amzn.to/2f9zqDp)) goes a lot further. Again,
I read a copy from the library. Beyond the style of your prose, if you want a
conceptual guide to business writing, see this review:
[https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/06/15/writing-
book/](https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/06/15/writing-book/)

But "Revising Prose" will probably suffice.

