Writing

Writing down your thoughts and arguments is a wonderful way to check if you are making sense. Like all things in business life it starts with an objective. Rather than plunging in and filling in a standard business and marketing template, initially take a different approach. The template is important as a checklist, we will come back to it later.

But for now state the purpose of the piece you are writing. That is the last step in the jigsaw. It should be a statement, a request to which you want to get a resounding YES! e.g. financing or permission to proceed with your project.

Now go back to the previous (unwritten) page. What information or evidence was needed here to allow that final page’s answer to be answered ? Think of every page as containing three things (1) a statement – which seems to be a necessary topic due to the information on the previous page, (2) the proof you are supplying to prove (or disprove) the statement and (3) a leading question for the next page.

All your desk research, all your interviews, discussions is all there to gather information. Writing it down makes a coherent thread. It takes time and many balk at the task, but it pays dividends in the end.

Templates were mentioned. They get a bad rap if they are used unthinkingly and unfortunately they often are. Companies require employees to submit ‘marketing plans’ or ‘business cases’ that follow a rigid template. If done wisely the template can be a useful check list. It is simple to fill in, do it, but always go back to the chain system of question and answer mentioned beforehand.

Working with companies I have to curate a large amount of information. The key is to select information to prove your point. If no evidence can be found there are two possibilities (1) Your point of view is wrong (2) You didn’t look hard enough. Unfortunately (2) happens more often and there are many fine Research and Forecasting companies, especially in the technology area, that will produce ‘forecasts’. This information is used unwittingly by many as due diligence and submitted as evidence in their business case. It is unfortunate as if ALWAYS misses one key point, a prediction about the future needs a probability to make it useful. Forecasts abound that the Smart Home market is facing huge growth e.g. Smart Home Market to Double by 2017 but missing is the probability this will happen. Is it 10% certain, or 90% ?

Entertain a tiny doubt of concern: Your point of view is maybe wrong or at least not 10% right and look to your reasoning. Why will a future market exist ? I am a passionate beliver in focusing on the proposition. Start there and be aware of all the other forces pulling you away from that  There are then good planning techniques to handle uncertainty we will look into later.