When one imagines a Project Manager, they may picture a person meeting with team mates, reviewing reports or giving presentations. While Project Managers do all of these things, there’s one task that nearly every P.M. spends quite a bit of time on, especially these days: writing. Whether it be writing letters or responding to endless emails, a significant portion of a Project Managers’ performance is underpinned by their ability to write. For many Project Managers (myself included), it takes years of time and experience to finely hone their writing skills. While the best way to get better at writing is to simply spend time doing it, there are many easy ways to improve writing abilities too; many of them are more about what not to do than anything else! Let’s talk about 6 essential writing skills for Project Managers that I’ve picked up over the years. Note that some of these tips aren’t necessarily about writing per se, but rather the intent and strategy behind why you should sometimes write a certain way. Let’s go!
Writing Skill #1: Proper Grammar
Let’s get this one out of the way quickly. One of the easiest ways to enhance your writing as a Project Manager is to write with proper grammar. By grammar, I refer to the proper use of words, but also the structure of sentences and punctuation.
While grammar ranks #1 on our list of writing skills for Project Managers, it’s not much of a skill these days. Spellcheck makes writing with proper grammar super easy. This goes for writing letters in Microsoft Word and writing emails alike. I highly recommend running a spellcheck before sending a letter or email as part of your proofread process.
For more information, check out this guide from The Punctuation Guide about how to write with proper grammar and punctuation. You can also use programs like Grammarly to automate this process for you as you write.
Writing Skill #2: Clear & Accurate Details
We hear all about the importance of ‘attention to detail’ in the world of project management, but what does that really mean? In terms of writing, attention to detail refers to communicating information clearly and accurately.
An easy way to write with clarity is to eliminate all ways that our message could be misinterpreted. There should be absolutely zero room for doubt in the eyes of the reader as to what you’re saying. This can be done by providing structured lists, ‘power words’ and specific details like dates, times and quantities. Another way to write clearly is to address specific people by name when making requests or giving direction, especially in group emails.
If you’re interested in learning more about writing with clarity, check out our article on being direct in the workplace without being a jerk.
In terms of accuracy, I refer to the ability to recall and summarize information exactly as it happened, without missing any pieces or deviating from the objective truth. This applies to what’s discussed in meeting formerly, what’s agreed upon verbally and what’s already written or recorded elsewhere.
While many Project Managers feel they can rely on memory to recall details accurately, I know I can’t. That’s why I recommend learning how to take notes as a Project Manager. We’ve put together a video on this too, which you’ll see by clicking the link.
Writing Skill #3: No Wasted Words
Fewer words are better. 🙂
This is the easiest to implement out of all the writing skills for Project Managers on our list. You simply write fewer words. Writing fewer words reduces the chance of our message being misinterpreted (as discussed previously) and it saves us time, too. That’s a win-win!
Writing Skill #4: Emotional Tonality
This writing skill is a bit of an art, but it’s powerful: the ability to write with a certain emotional tonality. We (humans) can’t help but to be affected on some level by emotions, even at work. Many people care just as much about how things are communicated as about what’s actually being said – even if it’s subconscious.
Tonality is a two-part process: communicating how we feel while we write, while also being aware of how readers may feel on the other end. This topic is difficult to write about, given that it’s all about the feelings behind our words. I recommend checking out our article on the importance of emotional intelligence for Project Managers. This article outlines several real-world examples both high and low ‘EQ’.
One quick tip for improving emotional tonality in writing is to think in terms of positivity and negativity. I’ve come up with a couple typical examples of positive and negative tonality below for reference. These examples will hopefully give you the positive and negative feelings so you can sense it yourself.
Again, these examples outline the significance of how we say things, and what that can mean for those receiving our message. Both messages technically say the same thing, but with opposing tones.
Positive Tonality: “We can’t guarantee that we’ll have it submitted by then, but we’ve got all hands on deck and will do our best.”
Negative Tonality: “We’ve got all hands on deck and will do our best, but we can’t guarantee that we’ll have it submitted by then.
Lesson: People’s feelings are usually based on the last thing you say, or your ‘end note’, not always the entire statement!
Positive Tonality: “Your ideas are helpful, and we’ve got a few other things to cover, too.”
Negative Tonality: “Your ideas are helpful, but we’ve got a few other things to cover, too.”
Lesson: In both cases we’ve told the other person that we find their ideas helpful, so what’s the problem? In the negative example, it’s almost as if we’ve told the person that our ‘few other things’ are most important, or that the other person “missed” our points. The positive example makes the conversation seem more constructive, as if we’re saying “let’s combine both of our ideas”.
These are just a couple small examples, but hopefully they outline the role of tonality in enhancing writing skills for Project Managers.
Writing Skill #5: Damage Control / ‘CYA’
As you’re likely all too familiar, not everything Project Managers write about is good. Many email exchanges involve conflict, disagreements and issues, while letters are often used to communicate legal topics, notices of default and financial claims.
These scenarios will involve using all of the writing skills for Project Managers on our list, but perhaps most important are our abilities to do “damage control” through writing and to cover our butts when need be.
Generally speaking, we cover our butts before something bad happens, and we do damage control after something bad happens.
When writing to cover our butts, we’re trying to document clearly that we think or feel a certain way before something negative occurs. In these cases, it’s best to stick with facts and honesty. By documenting facts accurately and clearly, we minimize the weight of our anecdotal opinions and emotions in our writing. This makes our written record harder to refute later, should anything actually go wrong. Writing with honesty is just what it sounds like, but we must be careful not to be emotional when doing so – especially when pointing out a mistake or flaw in someone else.
In terms of writing for damage control, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- If mistakes have been made on your end, don’t hide from them. Rather, state the intent behind why things were done in a certain manner and address the cause of why a mistake occurred.
- Solution-oriented thinking will help smooth things over and get back on track. By offering solutions, we offer comfort to the person or people receiving our letter or email and show that we care about making the situation better – see skill no. 4 above!
It’s not a question of if something bad will happen on one of your projects, but when. Therefore, knowing how to cover yourself and to perform damage control through written word is an essential writing skill for project managers.
Writing Skill #6: Avoiding Self-Sabotage
Lastly, we arrive at self-sabotage. What’s interesting about self-sabotage is how innocent it can be. We often sabotage ourselves simply by trying to be optimistic in our written communications.
For instance, imagine a project that’s in a slump. It’s Monday. We find out through a teammate that a certain task (“Task A”) could be completed by weeks’ end. We have to provide our client with a schedule update through email today. In an effort to boost morale and bring some good news, we mention that Task A will likely be complete this week, despite not thoroughly vetting this date ourselves.
When Task A gets delayed for any number of reasons, we suddenly look like the liar. By putting this Friday completion date in writing, our clients now have written proof of our team not delivering on a promise. All we wanted to do was provide some optimism! While this is an overly simplified example, the message is clear – we must not sabotage ourselves in writing.
Here are a few ways to do so:
- Avoid Unnecessary Specifics: Specifics are required sometimes. When they are, we need to provide them. When specifics are not required for the receiver of our message, why put them? Things change, the unexpected occurs. Why set ourselves up to potentially look bad for no reason?
- Set The Bar ‘Low’: This is another way of saying ‘keep expectations realistic’. Don’t overpromise, over-deliver instead.
- Zoom Out One Degree of Specificity When Possible: If a task will likely be complete in two days and you need to provide a timeframe, communicate in writing that it will be done in “the next several days”. If a milestone is scheduled to be reached next Tuesday, mention it being reached “next week”. This practice builds in a factor of safety naturally and prevents us from overpromising.
Related: Email Etiquette In The Workplace: 10 Email Sins To Avoid At All Costs
In Closing
If us Project Managers need to spend half our day writing letters and responding to emails, we might as well do it well! I hope you’ve found these writing skills useful and I highly encourage you to check out the links mentioned if you have the time, as I feel they closely relate to this article. Thanks for reading.
