The Economist - USA (2022-01-15)

56 Business The Economist January 15th 2022

T

hepandemichasgivena bigshoveto

allformsofdigitalcommunication.

Video­conferencingplatformshave

becomeverbs.Venturecapitalistsmake

theirbetsafterwatchingvirtualpitches.

ProductslikeLoomandmmhmmhelp

workerssendpre­recordedvideomes­

sagestotheircolleagues.Morethana

thirdofSlackuserseachweekarenow

“huddling”—usingtheproduct’snew

audiofeaturetotalktoeachother.And

allthisisbeforethemetaverseturns

everyoneintoanavatar.

A workplacedominatedbytimeon

screensmayseemboundtofavournew­

er,fasterandmorevisualwaysoftrans­

mittinginformation.Butanoldformof

communication—writing—isalsoflour­

ishing.Andnotjustdashed­offemails

andentriesonvirtualwhiteboards,but

slow,time­intensivewriting.The

strengthsofthewrittenwordhavenot

beendiminishedbythepandemicera.In

somewaystheyareideallysuitedtoit.*

Thevalueofwritingisa staplein

managementthinking.“Thediscipline

ofwritingsomethingdownisthefirst

steptowardmakingit happen,”reckoned

LeeIacocca,a quotabletitanoftheAmer­

icancarindustry.JeffBezosbannedslide

decksfrommeetingsofseniorAmazon

executivesbackin2004,infavourof

well­structuredmemos.“PowerPoint­

stylepresentationssomehowgiveper­

missiontoglossoverideas,”hewrote.

Someexecutiveswriteforthem­

selves.AndrewBosworth,a bigwigat

Meta(formerlyFacebook),hasa blogin

whichhemusesinterestinglyonmany

topics,includingonwritingitself:“Inmy

experience,discussionexpandsthe

spaceofpossibilitieswhilewritingre­

ducesit toitsmostessentialcompo­

nents.”Othersdosotoreachanaudi­

ence.ShareholderlettersfromLarryFink

andWarrenBuffettarethecorporate

equivalentofa blockbusterbooklaunch.

Butthemovetoremoteworkinghas

enhancedthevalueofwritingtotheentire

organisation,notjustthecorneroffice.

Whentasksarebeinghandedofftocol­

leaguesinotherlocations,orpeopleare

workingona project“asynchronously”,

meaningata timeoftheirchoosing,com­

prehensivedocumentationiscrucial.

Whennewemployeesstartworkonsome­

thing,theywantthebackstory.When

veteransdepartanorganisation,they

shouldleaveknowledgebehind.Writing

everythingdownsoundslikeanalmighty

pain.Butsoisturninguptoa meetingand

nothavingthefoggiestwhatwasdecided

lasttimeout.

Softwaredevelopershavealready

workedoutthevalueofthewrittenword.

A researchprogrammefromGoogleinto

theingredientsofsuccessfultechnology

projectsfoundthatteamswithhigh­

qualitydocumentationdeliversoftware

fasterandmorereliably.Gitlab,a code­

hostingplatformwhoseworkforceis

whollyremote,framesthesecretofsuc­

cessfulasynchronousworkingthus:

“HowwouldI deliverthismessage,

presentthiswork,ormovethisproject

forwardrightnowif nooneelseonmy

team(orinmycompany)wereawake?”

Gitlab’sansweris“textualcommunica­

tion”.Itsgospelisa handbookthatis

publiclyavailable,stretchestomore

than3,000pagesandlaysoutallofits

internalprocesses.

Thedeliberationanddisciplinere­

quiredbywritingishelpfulinother

contexts,too.“Brainwriting”isa brain­

stormingtechnique,usedbySlack

amongothers,inwhichparticipantsare

giventimetoputdowntheirideasbefore

discussionbegins.Listsofcorporate

valuescanmakegreetingcardsseem

hard­hitting.Butthoughtfulcodification

ofa firm’sculturemakesmoresensein

hybridandremoteworkplaces,where

newjoinershavelesschancetomeetand

observecolleagues.

Puristswillsniffthatnoneofthis

countsaswriting.Butgoodproseand

usefulprosesharethesameessential

qualities:brevity,structure,a clear

theme.CormacMcCarthy,a prize­win­

ningnovelist,copy­editsscientificpa­

persforfun.TedChiangsaysthathis

science­fictionshortstoriesandhis

technicalwritingbothdrawona desire

toexplainanideaclearly.

Writingisnotalwaysthebestwayto

communicateintheworkplace.Videois

morememorable;a phonecallisquicker;

evenPowerPointhasitsplace.Butforthe

structuredthoughtit demands,andthe

easewithwhichit canbesharedand

edited,thewrittenwordismadefor

remotework.

Thewrittenwordwillflourishinthepost-pandemicworkplace

BartlebyOf remoteworkandwriting

..............................................................

* Cynical readers may question a paean to the

written word in a publication that sells a fine style

guide and runs courses on business writing. They

are welcome to write in.

kling stockmarket performance last year—

when  its  shareholder  returns  approached

200%—in part to its pioneering use of vari­

able  dividends,  which  promise  investors

both a traditional fixed payout and a share

of  free  cashflow  when  oil  prices  surge.

Scott  Sheffield,  Mr  Muncrief’s  opposite

number at Pioneer Natural Resources, a ri­

val  company,  adds  that  the  growth­at­all­

costs  mindset  that  led  to  several  shale

crashes in the past has been replaced by “a

new investor contract”. This puts returning

cash to shareholders ahead of debt­fuelled

expansion.  Moody’s  calculates  that  shale

producers’ ratio of debt to gross operating

profit  will  fall  to  1.8  this  year,  down  from

4.4 in 2020. 

It  could  all  still  come  undone.  The  oil

price may crash. Or the companies may re­

vert  to  their  old  undisciplined  ways.  In  a

report published on January 11th America’s

Energy  Information  Administration  fore­

cast that shale production will hit a new re­

cord in 2023. 

For now, though, the American strategy

seems  to  be  working,  whether  or  not  it  is

good for the climate. At the start of the year

American oil firms’ shares were trading at a

69%valuation  premium  relative  to  those

of their European peers, according to Bern­

stein. Companies that focus on finding oil

and pumping it from the ground have done

especially  well.  An  index  of  such  “up­

stream”  firms  compiled  by  Bloomberg,  a

data provider, shot up by 86% last year, the

biggest  annual  gain  since  its  creation  in

1995 and far outpacing the 55% rise in the

oil  price.  This  implies  that  the  soaring

share  prices  do  not  reflect  a  temporary

windfall.  For  all  their  low­carbon  talk,in

other words, investors are not givingupon

oil—and American oil bosses knowit.n