The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint War Planning
Garr Reynolds offers a Tufte-esque critique of the recently declassified OIF planning slides.
These slides were likely never projected on a screen. PowerPoint decks like this are instead often printed and used in the US government and military as a kind of document… Slides like these would not make for good visuals, but they do not make for good documents either. Even though the title of the slide (err, “page”) below is “Key Planning Assumptions,” the problem with presenting bullets like this is that important assumptions about each bullet point are left unstated and unexplained. Since printed slides like these are acting as de facto documents to be left behind and examined later, why not present the information with more written explanation and greater clarity in a properly written document which adheres to the principles of good writing and good document design?
Clear writing, clear speaking and clear thinking all reinforce one another, and all are necessary if we hope to make wise decisions.
