Clear communication saves time and energy. It prevents misunderstandings. Most importantly, it gets the job done.

When you want someone to do something, tell them exactly what you want. Don’t be subtle. Don’t slip it in between the words. And, definitely don’t leave it unsaid, hoping that it is obvious.

Say it, and say it loud and clear.

We live in a world of 280 character tweets. In the race to pack the maximum punch in the least amount of space, it is easy to think, “That is so obvious” and not spell it out. But, do you really want to leave unsaid the most important part of your message?

A writer typing a novel, must punch in the correct words. Ones that ensure her readers feel exactly what she wants them to feel. Authors that understand this, rise to the top of bestseller lists. Those who don’t, get their manuscripts returned from the publisher with a thank you note.

Good writers recognize this, and so should you. Even if what you write is a more practical piece called email. An email, whose purpose is a call-to-action, must call it out leaving no room for doubt.

Imagine you are a programmer who has just fixed a bug. The next day you get an email from the support engineer, “Thanks for the quick intervention. Now we need to tell the client what happened.” You take the thank you, pat yourself on the back and think nothing further about it.

Until, the reminders and escalations start to come in. And you are left scratching your head, wondering what you missed.

What you did miss was the implication of the word we. It meant you and me, and not we the support team. But most of what you missed was never said, but left to be inferred.

If it was easy to read between the lines, you would have seen the magic sentence, “Can you please share a one pager explaining what went wrong.” But most of us don’t read between the lines, and even when we do, it’s not what the sender expects us to.

Wouldn’t it be a relief to have the lines tell us exactly what they want from us.

Start telling people exactly what you want from them. Be precise. It doesn’t matter if you say less or more, as long as you convey what needs to be said. And crystal-clear words are the way to say it.