Chapter 8 & 19

Chapter 8 covers how to create an effective writing style. Once again the reader centered approach is followed, after all you are writing for them not you. Start off by finding what it is your readers are interested in, tailoring your writing to this ends helps keep your writing clear and to the point. How you feel about the subject matter will come across in your writing, you must watch your tone and how you portray your feelings on the subject. If you are presenting a proposal for your bosses pet project that you aren't thrilled about, maybe you should not give a negative tone to the proposal just because you do not like it. Be sure to be adaptable to your readers, considering their backgrounds and experience and always avoid using stereotypes of any sort. The second part of the chapter talks about sentence structure, since this is one of the areas I struggle with I was very interest in the guidelines it gave. Writing with an "active voice" is a struggle for me as well, I have a tendency to write mainly in the past tense, or hop between the two when I write. The rest of the chapter really works on eliminating extras in your writing that is unnecessary, I appreciated the list of fancy verbs versus common verbs.

Chapter 19 covers project management and relations with clients during this process. It starts off with a list of things that should be known about the client before you undertake the project.

Things to know about your client:
- Client's organization
- Readers
- Usability and persuasive objectives
- Stakeholders
- Deadlines
- Preferences and requirements
- Resources
- Budget

After creating a clear picture of your clients and their expectations you must evaluate your view of the project, in order to choose the best course of action. The next step is to create a management plan for completing the project, then the fun start, the proposal. The proposal is not only a way to let the client know how you plan on doing this project for them, it is also how you ask for the written agreement to proceed with the project for them. The chapter ends off with a very detailed example of a proposal covering layout and content that should be in a good proposal.