Reliability is the best policy

Products you can trust

Today’s hypes are harshly confronted with reality. Banks gambling on high-risk investments are not yielding the envisioned profits, megaprojects are not being completed on time and on budget, and devices are not doing what they promise. Is it not time for a return to reliability?

Twenty years ago, bankers were synonymous with grey suits, and they emanated a certain reliability. Today we are faced with the recent mess created by fashionable banking products. The risks were neatly camouflaged so that no one knew what it was really all about. Clever, one might say.

Now that the bubble has burst, the risks in the products are evident. As are the weak points in the system. After the fact. It is clear that there was a lack of reliability. The funny thing is that ten or so years ago, the TechText team chose ‘reliable’ as the term that best summed up the TechText culture. In our first news card (spring 2000), we explained how reliability, creativity and modern resources work together.

But what has reliability got to do with texts? The answer to that question is: a great deal. In many texts, the message is nowhere to be found. Vague phrasing, woolly language, jargon. Sometimes accidental, sometimes deliberate. Usually due to insufficent writing skills. Time and time again, it emerges that writing is a profession whose cornerstones include proper training, experience and thorough analysis. Because a disjointed collection of information does not make a good text.

And what does reliability have to do with you? The answer to that question is also: a great deal. When it comes to the quality of your product, the manner in which you deal with consumers, suppliers and other parties, and the way you approach your job as an individual – a communicator. By communicating reliably, clearly and honestly, and honouring your agreements.