FWIW :) I used to despise the incredible amount of time we could spend on a single powerpoint slide sometimes. Then one day when going over same slide for the

FWIW :) I used to despise the incredible amount of time we could spend on a single powerpoint slide sometimes. Then one day when going over same slide for the 5th time with my boss and mentor, I realized: * This slide will be seen by a person in power * they will make a decision based upon that slide * I would like to spend 3 hours explaining them the intricacies of my project/architecture/problem/whatever * But they have 10/100/1000 other projects, and they have 20/10/5/1 minute to devote to me before they make a decision * A slide or set of slides might therefore have an impact across 1/10/100 people over week/month/years due to a decision based on a slide or set of slides * therefore, it can at times be rationally logical to spend a lot of time word-smithing a slide in order to help the right decision As programmers, we understand that we might spend 10min/hour/days/weeks on a small but crucial piece of code, because we need the computer to understand it and do the exactly right thing in a complicated scenario; and we do not consider it a waste of time (though our management might! It's a curiously symmetrical situation :-) Sometimes, slides are exactly that, but for people - distilled information to enable executive stakeholder to do the correct thing. Same with other items - diagrams? They can be phenomenally useful! A good diagram can spread understanding of goal and ensure we all build the right thing. Bad diagram can set 100 smart people on divergent paths!