Consider the Audience Although unlikely to be required by your professor, there is the possibility that more than one executive summary will have to be written for a given document [e. This may only necessitate the rewriting of the introduction and conclusion, but it could require rewriting the entire summary in order to fit the needs of the reader. If necessary, be sure to consider the types of audiences who may benefit from your study and make adjustments accordingly.
Clarity in Writing One of the biggest mistakes you can make is related to the clarity of your executive summary.
Always note that your audience [or audiences] are likely seeing your research study for the first time. The best way to avoid a disorganized or cluttered executive summary is to write it after the study is completed. Always follow the same strategies for proofreading that you would for any research paper. The executive summary is a stand-alone document intended to convince the reader to make a decision concerning whether to implement the recommendations you make.
Once convinced, it is assumed that the full document will provide the details needed to implement the recommendations. Although you should resist the temptation to pad your summary with pleas or biased statements, do pay particular attention to ensuring that a sense of urgency is created in the implications, recommendations, and conclusions presented in the executive summary.
Be sure to target readers who are likely to implement the recommendations. Writing CSU. Colorado State University; Clayton, John. University Writing Center. How to Write an Executive Summary. Magazine, September, 15, ; Kawaski, Guy.
The Art of the Executive Summary. Purdue University; Writing Executive Summaries. Effective Writing Center. University of Maryland; Kolin, Philip. Successful Writing at Work. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, , p. Search this Guide Search. Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper Offers detailed guidance on how to develop, organize, and write a college-level research paper in the social and behavioral sciences. The Abstract Executive Summary 4.
But sometimes, new project members or executive stakeholders want a simplified view of your project. The best way to do that is with an executive summary. An executive summary is an overview of a document. Imagine it this way: if your high-level stakeholders were to only read your executive summary, would they have all of the information they need to succeed?
If so, your summary has done its job. Business cases. In project management, an executive summary is a way to bring clarity to cross-functional collaborators, team leadership, and project stakeholders. For example, to write an executive summary of an environmental study, you would compile a report on the results and findings once your study was over.
But for an executive summary in project management, you want to cover what the project is aiming to achieve and why those goals matter. Start with the problem or need the project is solving. Why is this project happening? What insight, customer feedback, product plan, or other need caused it to come to life?
How is the project going to solve the problem you established in the first part? What are the project goals and objectives? How will this improve and solve the problem you established in the first part? Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work. This is another opportunity to reiterate why the problem is important, and why the project matters. It can also be helpful to reference your audience and how your solution will solve their problem. Finally, include any relevant next steps.
A project plan is a blueprint of the key elements your project will accomplish in order to hit your project goals and objectives. Project plans will include your goals, success metrics, stakeholders and roles, budget, milestones and deliverables, timeline and schedule, and communication plan.
An executive summary is a summary of the most important information in your project plan. Project overviews and executive summaries often have similar elements—they both contain a summary of important project information. However, your project overview should be directly attached to your project. There should be a direct line of sight between your project and your project overview.
While you can include your executive summary in your project depending on what type of project management tool you use, it may also be a stand-alone document.
You may be asking: why should I write an executive summary for my project? Well, like we mentioned earlier, not everyone has the time or need to dive into your project and see, from a glance, what the goals are and why they matter. Chances are, if there isn't any urgency to your executive summary, your business plan won't get read.
After describing the elements above, the executive summary should also have a brief financial summary. For your financials, Bonjour suggests including the valuation of the deal, so that the reader knows right away what the risks are, and what the returns can be.
This depends on who your readers are. Do your research. If you're presenting your plan to investors, make sure the language of the executive summary caters to their backgrounds. For example, if you know your investor has a degree in chemical engineering, your language might be different from that in the executive summary presented to an investor who studied philosophy. In other words, "use language that will resonate with your target audience," says Hirai.
Don't be afraid to change your executive summary when you present it to different investors. Consider creating different versions for each audience, he says, but make sure that it's always kept professional, crisp, and free of any embarrassing errors.
Another good tip he gives is to use personal pronouns e. Your reader will feel a stronger personal connection with you, your brand, and your idea if you can relate to the reader in the first person. Don't forget to be confident, either. If the writer does not clearly believe in this company, says Bonjour, why should the reader believe in it? Put yourself in your reader's shoes, and ask yourself why you would want to invest in a company. Remember, every executive summary is--and should be--unique.
Depending on the size of the business plan or investment proposal you're sending, the executive summary's length will vary. However, the general consensus is that an executive summary should be between one and four pages long. Think logically.
A two-page summary can be printed on the front and back of a single page, which can feel like a professional brochure. And if you can't tell the essence of your story in a page or two, says Hirai, then you probably haven't thought things through well enough.
Echoing this thought, Bonjour asserts that "you can cheat a bit by using smaller fonts, widening your margins, shrinking images and tables, but ultimately you need to summarize everything contained within the executive summary.
After all, it is called a 'summary' for a reason. Avoid using terms like "the best," "groundbreaking," "cutting-edge," and "world-class. The most important element to any executive summary is a clear, concise, and relevant explanation of what your company does.
0コメント