From Gobbledygook to Plain English: How a Large State Agency Took on the Bureaucratic Form Letter  

In an effort to reduce phone calls and improve customer service, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries(L&I), in July 2001, launched 'Plain Talk' – a year-long project to rewrite 100 bureaucratic form letters into plain English. Hundreds of thousands of form letters are used each year by L&I to process claims, to issue workplace safety and health citations, and to handle many other workplace issues. As the Plain Talk project manager, I decided to focus on the department’s highest-frequency form letters and now work with 12 programs to rewrite them into clear and simple language. The effort is backed by a strong message from the governor and agency director, high-quality training, ongoing mentoring, and “reality check” usability testing. The project is due to be completed by the end of June 2002.

Botka, Dana Howard. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Language>Writing>Minimalism