Strategic Review
Why is it that document reviews are generally seen as a weakness in organizational performance?
After years of observing and surveying our clients, and working with them to improve the quality of their reviews, we've put together a list of common problems associated with document reviews:
Unclear Expectations
Reviewers are not provided with instructions or training for how to review documents, nor are there defined standards of document quality or a common vocabulary on what is or is not good quality.
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Not Enough Time on Strategy
When reviewers don't have instructions on quality, they revert to their early experiences of having a teacher mark their papers. This leads to reviewers spending too much time on lexical and syntactical elements of a document and not enough time on strategically important issues that convey the message of the document.
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Authoring and Reviewing are SeparateWhen authoring and reviewing activities are not in sync and key decision-makers are involved too late in the writing process, discussions of the clarity of the document's message get pushed to the end. This may result in lots of rewriting or a force a delay in the product cycle.
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A substantial contributor to this problem is that most organizations focus attention solely on review processes and not whether review practices help achieve desired outcomes. While it is important to address the “who” and “when” of review (review process), what is sorely absent from most considerations is attention to the “why” and “what” of review (review practice).
Most of the problems with review come from learned habits of review, habits learned through the reviewer's and author's experiences in the review process.
We've learned from years of conversations with clients that though many in an organization may think that the review process is ineffective, they are uncertain how to change the ingrained habits. That's where we come in.
Through examples from our years of experience in document development, and an analysis of your documents and review team's habits, we can demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses in your review process and practices, providing actionable solutions to make your reviews more strategic, efficient, and cost-effective.
Review Practice Assessment and Document Assessment help your team determine how well you focus on the strategic elements of a document or a filing.
Most of the problems with review come from learned habits of review, habits learned through the reviewer's and author's experiences in the review process.
We've learned from years of conversations with clients that though many in an organization may think that the review process is ineffective, they are uncertain how to change the ingrained habits. That's where we come in.
Through examples from our years of experience in document development, and an analysis of your documents and review team's habits, we can demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses in your review process and practices, providing actionable solutions to make your reviews more strategic, efficient, and cost-effective.
Review Practice Assessment and Document Assessment help your team determine how well you focus on the strategic elements of a document or a filing.
