To be more efficient to write your report, think about the 80/20 principle, and about using speed to your advantage.
Using an iterative process, you can quickly reach a good enough to ship quality report, without over-optimizing it.
Using the 80/20 principle to write a good enough report
What are the 20% of the total chapters that bring 80% of the total value of the content?
When you start jotting ideas of chapters, or points that you want to make, you’ll be using time, and the more time you use the more items there will be.
It’s therefore hard to implement the 80/20 principle when we think about so many ideas, and spend time writing them down.
Using speed to ensure that you stick to the 20% of the 80/20
The best way to make sure that your report will only have 20% of the ideas, you need to use time constraints.
Give yourself for instance 5-15 minutes to write down the backbone of your report.
Give yourself another 15-30 minute to write bullet points you want to make as subchapters or key takeaways.
With another round, you may fine-tune your plan a little bit, but you should not require more.
If you need more time it means you’re not prepared enough. So you’d better stop working on the report and start researching for the missing elements.
With about 20-45 minutes, you’ll be set for a medium to large report.
By using speed to your advantage, you make sure you stick to the 80/20 principle.
