Good commissioning = smooth ride
Commissioning' is when someone at work asks you to write something, like a report. That someone is usually your manager or a senior leader.
How well-formed their request is will make or break your experience of writing the document.
Good commissioning prevents these problems
You write a document and send it to the commissioner, only to find out it isn't what they wanted. Back to the drawing board.
You play a hellish game of document ping pong with the commissioner, where they make or suggest changes, you take them in, back and forth, back and forth.
A client told me she once produced 46 versions of a report. The money! The time! The frazzlement!
I've also heard of a document taking so many months to finalise that it was no longer needed. The world had moved on. How gutting!
What good commissioning looks like
Decide these 5 things together.
The goal: If this document works, what will happen?
The primary readers: To achieve the goal, who does this document have to work for the most?
The secondary readers: Who else might read it?
The context, trigger, and question: This is a great way to define the scope of your work, while keeping in mind the reader's need for usable information at the end.
See page 7 of Writing for Ministers and Cabinet for more on context, trigger, and question.
Who does what when: Diarise when you'll send the first draft to the commissioner, when they'll send it back, and so on. Release your inner project manager!
What good commissioning doesn't look like
Someone tells you a topic. You nod, ask no questions, and take no notes.
Are you a commissioner?
It's well worth taking the time at the beginning. Make sure your writer has a clear picture of what's needed.
Write down the key points. Don't leave it as a conversation. People's memories do funny things to information that's not written down.
When it's time to review, start by re-reading your commissioning notes. That's what was agreed. How closely does the document achieve that goal?
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