Manage Your Project Portfolio, 2nd Edition

Refine the Mission

Once you have the elements of your mission from the brainstorming, make sure you have strong verbs and have eliminated adverbs and jargon.

Strengthen Your Verbs

Action verbs need to be more than “do.” Yes, it is a verb. But it doesn’t give you or your group guidance about what to do. “Do” is a weak verb. Instead, think about what “do” means. Does it mean “perform” or “obtain” or “create”? It might mean something different, so specify what it means.

Sometimes people use adverbs for emphasis, such as “Really provide real-time answers.” Adverbs weaken writing. If you used adverbs to strengthen your sentence or for emphasis, eliminate the adverbs and strengthen the verbs. To see other ways to strengthen your writing, read ...