ISO 24495 — How we use simple language to optimize our processes

This is how you make your texts easier to understand

The good news: In order to make your texts and process documentation easier to understand, an additional certificate is not necessarily required. Whether ISO 24495 certification makes sense for you depends on your industry and contractors. Either way, the new ISO for simple language is an important impetus for companies to improve their communication. That's why we've put together some practical tips for you:

At word level

• Consistent terminology: State things by name and don't be afraid to repeat them. Avoid brackets and slashes — choose a word.
• Compound nouns: In German, we can string together any number of words, but that also quickly becomes confusing. So combine words that you make up of more than 2 nouns with a hyphen.
• Technical terms: Do your readers know the terms that you take for granted? It is better to explain or describe them if you are unsure.
• filler words: Words with little or no meaning have no place in informative texts — it's best to delete them completely.

At sentence level

• Sentence structure: Avoid nested clauses and use several main clauses in a row instead. The rule of thumb is: maximum 1 subordinate clause.
• Active vs. passive: Formulate as actively as possible:”We optimize the processes together.” instead of “The processes will jointly optimizes.” In this way, it is always clear who is acting.
• Subjunctive vs. indicative: Delete “would”, “should”, “would” from your texts and write directly what is happening.
• modal verbs: “Can”, “should”, “must” etc. are superfluous in most places. So remove the so-called “auxiliary verbs” — where possible — from your texts and make clear statements.
• link attributes: Replaces phrases such as “the to come to life management system” through relative clauses: “the management system, that we want to bring to life”.
• nominalizations: Back to the roots! Nominalizations are actually verbs — and your readers understand them much better. Replaces phrases such as “Our services include advice and support of our customers.” therefore with phrases such as “We advice and support our customers.”
• functional structure: They are just as cumbersome as their name. Therefore, use simple verbs such as “to influence” or “to give” instead of “to influence” or “to provide.”

At text level

Structure longer texts by

• Key content briefly at the beginning summarizes.
• Your text in short Sections of meaning subdivides.
• subheadings uses.
• for enumerations with more than three elements Bulletpoints uses.
• Key terms by formatting highlights.

And this is what simple language looks like in practice:

For better text comprehension and simplified processes

Do you see the difference between original and simple language? The optimized text is both shorter and easier to understand. In the same way, you can optimize your communication, process descriptions and work instructions — and simplify internal and external processes for everyone involved with a clear message. Your colleagues and contractors will thank you for it — with or without ISO 24495 certification.

Would you like to learn more about optimized processes and process descriptions? Then take a look at them 6 tips for a good process description on!