Sharing Early Drafts of Documents

There are two schools of thought on writing documents, reports, proposals or papers. One says that you should share early drafts with interested parties in order to get feedback so you can write a great final draft. The other says don't show anyone your document until it is finished.

It sounds like a good idea to show an early draft. It proves you have been working on your document and it shows that you are going through a development process. It gives others the chance to comment on your thesis and your justifications. That's how it's always shown in the movies.

Unfortunately, your document can easily create the wrong impression when the caveats and conditions have not yet been clearly defined. Often you have to see the whole in order to properly understand it. Only writers of fiction can get away with supplying an installment on the next part of the story; we technical authors must supply enough details to justify everything. Lyndon's Law of Document Drafting says never show someone an early draft of your document. Wait until it is at least 95% finished otherwise you will have to spend extra time explaining and arguing your points because your collaborator has taken a wrong turn in their understanding.

Unlike our fiction counterparts, the process of writing a technical document is rarely linear: you don't start on line 1 of page 1 and write to the finish, one line at a time in order. The majority of documents are written by creating the structure of a document with section headings and iteratively filling in the details. Even when the document is completely filled in, we iteratively modify, rewrite and link individual sections. Sometimes making changes that completely alter the tone or conclusion of the whole document.

People often take things at face value. When showing an early draft of a technical document it is often received as "finished" if it looks so. To the reader it is merely a few spelling corrections and a couple of italicisations away from being finished. In reality it is an essential milestone to the final draft but maybe as little as 20% complete. The problem here is that even when you clearly explain that the current version is an early draft, other people do not listen. It is better to be patient and reach a stage where the document concretely reflects your true meaning, than to share a document that your collaborators can easily find fault with.

It is difficult to know that the proper meaning is being communicated because as an author you are so close to the work, you know what the document is supposed to mean; but maybe others won't understand it this way. That's why it is better to wait and get feedback on a document when it is nearly finished.