Among the things that I learned and picked up from my friend, colleague, and former boss, Rich Harwood, this is one of the most useful when it comes to day-to-day work. I am not sure Rich stresses it very much any more, but it’s one of those ideas that just hit me as useful when I learned of it and it has stuck with me. Over time, it’s come to be second nature to me.

Here’s the idea. Every document should be checked along three dimensions: Overall, Across, and Within.

Here’s a quick video explaining what I mean: 

• Overall: does it make sense, from 30,000 feet? What overall impression is left? (If a program evaluation, for instance, revealed that an initiative was astoundingly successful — does the report convey that overall impression too, or is it dry and academic?)
• Across: From point to point, does it hang together? Does one section stick out as odd, perhaps cut-and-pasted from somewhere else? Are the facts cohesive? How about tone?
• Within: When you drill down, do arguments make sense and actually go to support the across and overall dimensions? Are they the right facts? Are they presented properly?

It’s worth looking “Overall” again at the end, too, just in case the Across and Within reviews altered your perspective.

This approach works equally well for reviewing plans for projects and plans, too. It’s especially useful when reviewing strategic planning documents.