AI Is Making Our Communications Longer. Not Better.

In 2009, I sent a long email to my boss at the time, Swami Kumaresan.

His entire reply:

“Shorter.”

I got the point.

From then on, I started editing my lengthy thoughts and plans down to what people actually needed to know.

Lately, I’m seeing a lot of longggggg communications.

Projects with massively detailed plans. Meetings with lengthy recaps. Updates have become small essays.

AI has made this incredibly easy.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes you need the detail. I’m certainly guilty of this.

AI like humans tends to default to length.

However, thorough isn’t necessarily the same as effective.

The person reading your update probably has 30 other things competing for their attention. Your job isn’t to include everything.

You need to make sure they get the point. 

If AI gives you several pages when you really need a few paragraphs, try this prompt:

“Shorter.”