When you sit down to write your next, and future reports, always keep at the back of your mind this simple six-point checklist:
1. The report you are about to start is your intellectual
property and brand, also your reputation relies on it; so write it at a time of the day when you know you produce your best creative work.
2. Before you submit this report is it the best it can be?
3. Does your report achieve its purpose and meet your
client’s original instruction?
4. Has it been written free of waffle in the past tense giving
only the facts, has it been thoroughly proofread and is it professionally presented?
5. Have you included too many photos?
6. And finally, remember that this report may be the one you
later have to defend in a court of law some years ahead. If so, are you able to do that?
Before we get into the report itself, how well do you understand your comfort zone and psychological state, for this will determine if you are in the right place to produce first-class work. For example, you may have travelled back for many hours after a survey; you feel tired and have had a glass of wine. That is almost certainly not the right time to start to write a report!
Ideally you need to be at ease and in control of your environment with low levels of anxiety and stress.
When you are in this zone, a steady level of performance is likely. But remember that familiarity and complacency can be dangerous too and, in this state, you may be prone to making errors, sometimes unwittingly, because you are in your comfort zone.
Stepping out of your comfort zone raises anxiety and generates a stress response. This results in an enhanced level of concentration and focus on what you are about to do. Consequently, your performance can be enhanced by some stress leading to a better report. Some examples of extra stress could be caused by:
• Looming deadlines • Demanding clients • Unfamiliar vessel types
SIMPLE DEFINITION OF A REPORT
A report is a written document, (not a photo gallery), produced for a clear purpose and to a particular audience. Specific information and evidence are presented, analysed and applied. The information is presented in a clearly structured format making use of sections and headings so that the information is easy to locate and follow.
When you are asked to write a report, you will have been given an instruction by your client. The instruction should outline the purpose, audience and problem, or issue that your report must address.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Recommended at the start of your report is an executive summary, although some prefer to do this at the end. An executive summary is a short section within a document that summarises the longer report in such a way that readers can quickly become acquainted with the whole report without having to read it all.
It usually contains a brief statement of the content covered in the report, background information, concise analysis and main conclusions. It is intended as an aid to decision-making by busy people who may not read the whole report. Busy hull underwriters, for example, are known to turn straight to the summary page!
The art of precis is a skill that everyone will have been taught at school and has relevance when it comes to writing an executive summary. Your report should be just long enough to meet the client’s expectations, but not a word longer than is necessary. Your executive summary is essentially a precis of the entire report. A precis is defined as a summary of something’s main points, but with no loss of meaning.
This leads nicely into report lengths. The Institute’s recommendation for a normal full condition or pre- purchase survey is it should run to perhaps 20 pages and a basic structural survey might make a dozen pages. If you have written considerably more then you have probably overstated the problems or have waffled or used flabby phrases
The Report • March 2020 • Issue 91 | 65
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