I’ve just spent too many hours trying to produce a good briefing for a political decision maker.
It is taxing on the brain.
It helps if you are working from material that does not need a post-doc from MIT to understand.
You need to have a clear ‘ask’. It need to be clear for the reader, not your client. If you don’t understand what your client is asking for, there is little hope that the reader will understand it.
If you are having a hard time, you can try ChatGPT to explain it to you, see if Vaclav Smil has written about the issue, or find someone who knows the issue but can explain things clearly (they are rare creatures), to sit down and explain things to you.
Once you understand what the issue is and what is being asked for, you’ll need to find the public evidence to support your case. If it does not exist, you can’t use that point. This often leads a far slimmer document than you hoped.
Your points need to be politically salient. Busy people are not going to step in and do a lot of extra work for abstract or theoretical issues. Cross referencing to the Commission’s Political Guidelines or Mission Letters are a good place to start digging.
After you have (1) understood the issue, (2) done your research, and (3) assembled the supporting points, it is now time to put them down into a Minto Pyramid.
This forces you to limit the amount of points you raise. Any reader will only be able to take on board 3-7 points max. Force feeding them too many points will lead them to close down. And, then all your work will be pointless.
It helps to get to the point at the start. Summarise the issue, the problem and the solution at the start. Don’t leave it to the end of page 4.
You need to look at the issue from the reader’s perspective. Raise the points that will persuade them, and banish anything else.
It is likely that the points that will speak to the reader are not the same as your client’s interests. You need to persuade your client that outlining their financial impact on their share price because of a proposal will not be top of the mind of the decision-maker.
Once you have organized all the points in the pyramid carve out a few hours when your brain is fresh or you have got a burst of energy from chocolate and Red Bull. Make sure you are in a quiet place not distracted by the babble of the office.
Sit down and write. And, then take a break.
Come back after a good walk or something else and do a spell check.
Pass it by someone who does not know the issue and ask them to see if they can understand the issue and what you are asking for in one reading. If not, refine. If yes, send to your client.
If your client complains it is not at the same level as their doctorate from MIT on the issue, point them to the points below – a good briefing. Correct any errors. But, if they insist that you re-write to the level that only 4 people in the world can understand what’s being asked for, do so, and realize that your paper will be pointless. Whoever receives it will not understand it and put it in the bin.
A good briefing
- Clear for the reader
- Gives the reader a reason to do something – speaks to their interests and agenda
- A Solution to a problem that the reader can do something about
- Communicates a limited amount of points
- Address the points that will be raised in opposition to your ask
- Is not politically/regulatory/legally insane