Can one voice change anything? — A 30 Minute Life

Yesterday I was at a meeting, which was discussing policy. This seems quite abstract as I write it, and perhaps it is. What happens once a policy is written? If it is a large organisation it acts as a rudder, guiding the activities of sections of the activity. This will have an impact on the users of this business, and ultimately, on our community. Policy is very important!

As I was reading the document there were a number of things I observed. These documents often look like a legal text. If this, then that, or else something else, and it gets quite confusing. It is even more difficult if you have cognitive problems, such as short term memory difficulties. The type font, spacing between paragraphs and sentences can make the text easier to read, or more off-putting. The writers of the document made some attempt to add more space, but still the content looks complicated.

What is the effect of the way the document looks? My belief is the appearance is critical to ensure the potential reader actually makes the effort to take the time to read the document. Often, once you see something like this you decide not to even attempt to understand what it contains, and so you then ask someone, who you think might have read it, to explain what you need to know. This can create a systemic misunderstanding of the policy, if that person didn’t…