Getting started on an advisory report can be daunting, especially when the topic is complex or unfamiliar. There’s a tricky stage to navigate when everything is open-ended – including where to start, what research to focus on, and what should the document look like?
When I talk about advisory report, I mean any kind of document where you need to digest and discuss a wide range of information and reach a conclusion on the best way forward.
In these cases, having a reliable process to follow is essential. It gives you something to hang on to when everything is uncertain. The three biggest benefits it can give you are confidence, efficiency and a calm mind.
1. Confidence – having a step-by-step process to follow makes it easier to say yes to a new project, even when the topic is new to you.
2. Efficiency – following a reliable process saves you lots of ‘figuring out’ time.
3. A calm mind – knowing how you are going to tackle a project will help you to relax, leaving more mental headspace to take on new information without becoming overwhelmed.
My process for writing an advisory report
- Tame the information overload. One of the biggest time-wasters when writing advisory reports is falling into the research rabbit hole. Instead, allocate a limited amount of time for reading background documents while keeping the scope of your report firmly in mind. This initial stage is messy – and can be uncomfortable due to the lack of certainty. But the goal is to become familiar enough with available information to be able to move to the next step.
- Create a draft structure for your document. This is likely to be a customised version of a basic report structure (background, issue, options and recommendations).
- Confirm the draft structure with your manager (or client).
- Add relevant content from Step 1 into your draft structure.
- Fill the gaps in the draft structure through desktop research and/or interviews to create your first draft. (This is far more efficient than trying to figure everything out before you have a structure for your document because you can now take a much more targeted approach to gathering information.) There are two key ways to do this, depending on the way your mind works, and the project type: FREE WRITE it based on your limited understanding so far and then improve it using your research; or COMPILE it by copying content from the research to then craft into a narrative.
- Revise the draft document as many times as you need to, progressively improving it until the overall narrative is in place and is expressed as clearly as possible. (This is the hardest part of the process, and I always underestimate how long this process will take. This is when you are most likely to want to ‘jump away’ from the project and doing anything but that. I find doing one review and one round of changes per day, then leaving it until the next day isa good way to go, as it gives my mind time to mull on it in between revisions.) Make notes on recommendations as they occur to you, but don’t try to perfect them at this stage.
- Once you are happy with the overall document and can read it through without making significant changes, you are in a good position to refine your recommendations.
- Write supporting content for implementation of your recommendations, for inclusion in appendices. (This feels like a big task while you are in the middle of writing and revising the report, but these appendices come together easily because you are so familiar with the topic by the time you write them.)
- Add any other appendices, such as key examples from other councils which are referred to in the advisory report.
- Write the executive summary – sum up the issue and the proposed solution in a fresh, concise way. (It needs to be consistent with the report without copying whole sentences.)
- Write the introduction – tell the reader what they can expect from each section of the document.
- Edit the executive summary, introduction and appendices.
- Do one more read through of the whole document to ensure consistency.
Three success factors
- A weekly catch up with someone who knows about the project (your manager or client) is extremely valuable, particularly in the first half of the process when you have the most potential to go off track.
- Developing a long, complex advisory report is a difficult task. It requires an intense focus to move from a foggy idea to a finished document. When you’re in the middle stage of making an ugly draft into something valuable, it’s better to give the project concentrated attention over short periods of time (e.g. work on it each morning until your revision round is done, and then do something else on your to-do list) rather than sticking with it all day, grinding your brain into the dust.
- Other councils are an excellent resource (if you’re working for a council). In most cases it will be well worth researching how other councils approach the same issue, and this is even easier to do now that we have AI to help us. And if you take the next step of meeting with staff to learn about their approach, offering to share your policy paper is a good way to thank contributing councils.
Experience with advisory reports
Here are some of the topics I have considered in advisory reports:
- Youth sector – Key themes, strengths, gap and opportunities for the youth sector.
- Community engagement – Best practice community engagement for rural communities.
- Infrastructure and financial strategy – a recommended approach for combining these two strategies in a way that meets legislative requirements within a short, engaging document. This document included sample text so that the subject matter experts didn’t have to start from a blank page.
- Construction and demolition (C&D) waste – Using site management plans to encourage more reuse and recycling of C&D materials.
- Land Information Memoranda (LIMs) – What to include in LIMs and how to structure it; how to improve the online experience for customers; and recommended a staff structure to support the delivery of LIM services.
Find out more
Learn more about how I can help you move from Complexity to Clarity.
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