Easy-to-process things feel truer, safer, and more appealing.
More quotesOne person writes for twenty minutes.
One hundred and twenty people read for two minutes each.
Four hours have just been spent receiving a message the sender experienced as brief.
Distribution changes the economics of prose. An unnecessary paragraph sent to one friend is a small indulgence. Sent to thousands, it becomes a queue of repeated interpretation. Every reader separately hunts for the decision, deadline and sentence that applies to them.
Short messages can be vicious in another direction. “Please handle this” saves the sender eleven words and creates questions for everyone else. Context, ownership and consequences belong where they prevent further work. Brevity measured by word count alone merely transfers labour with excellent statistics.
The sender has one unusual advantage: they can concentrate effort once on behalf of every recipient. State the action early. Separate essential information from material needed by a minority. Delete the autobiography of how the decision was reached unless that history changes what people should do.
Then multiply. Thirty seconds saved across 500 readers is over four hours returned. Suddenly editing stops looking cosmetic.
The final message loses one paragraph and gains a precise deadline. Several recipients never open the supporting note. Two do and find the evidence they need.
The sender spends eight extra minutes revising. Nobody sends the inevitable reply asking, “What am I meant to do?”