Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Report writing skills

The 90's was the leisurely period when the final deliverable was a “detailed” report written as a WordPerfect document complete with a Technical Appendix and a Field report (and not the PowerPoint presentations which pass off as “reports” nowadays).

I wrote up my 1st report and took it to Stuart. I think the conversation proceeded as follows:

Stuart : "Interrresting. You write like Charles Dickens."

Me (Blushing with delight) : "Thank you very much. I grew up on the English classics and PG Wodehouse."

Stuart : "Excellent. Now go back and re-write this report completely – we don’t live in the 19th century."

The chastened new recruit collects the report covered in green ink and exits quickly left of center

1 comment:

manu said...

THIS HAPPENS SO MANY TIMES ISN’T IT THAT WHEN AN OUTSISER PASSES A COMMENT ON SOME SINCERELY DONE WORK WHICH THE DOER THINKS HAS BEEN DONE TO THE BEST OF HIS ABILITY AND THIS DOER TAKES THE COMMENT IN A TOTALLY OPPOSITE BUT POSITIVE SENSE CONTRARY TO THE INTENTION OF THE COMMENTATOR.