Dear planners, write less, say more

Somewhere along the way, planners seem to have been taught that report writing is the value they add to the world. But it’s not, critical thinking and the ability to objectively evaluate information and make decisions should be the value we add to the world.

So, how can we divorce the length of the documents we write from the ‘value-add’ piece?

I think we all need to get better at writing for the audience that we are serving. What is the purpose of the report we are writing? As a planner, it is often about giving information to someone to make a decision OR articulating how and why a decision has been made.

That means we should try and be straight to the point. Here are some of my thoughts on what planners need to focus on to ensure we are adding value when it comes to processing resource consents:

• If you have a bunch of specialists all in agreement, you don’t need to write pages and pages explaining why. Get to the point, move on.

• Focus reports and assessments on the contentious elements - the effects that are the crux of that activity.

• If it’s a report for a resource consent for the team leader in your council to determine, whilst we need to write it knowing that anyone in the public could pick it up and read it, remember that hopefully only two people will ever read that report – you and the team leader. Most important thing is to have the thinking right behind the report.

• Don’t waste time writing long reports for stuff that doesn’t need that level of attention. We can add value by smashing out the easy stuff fast and then can focus our efforts on the consents that present the bigger risks to the environment and the community.

• Spend plenty of time on your resource consent conditions. They will be read by lots of people and will be around for a long time. Think of them like a set of instructions we want someone to follow and it can make things much more simple.

Amanda de Jong – November 2023