Definitely guilty of this. That said, sometimes the content of Admin orders/JIs or similar just feels too long to be an email…maybe I just need to change my mindset!
No, I’d agree that an Admin Order is definitely better written as a stand alone document; and JIs even more so.
Few things irritate me as much as some muppet who writes a massive AO and includes the JIs as some random Annex deep within.
JIs should be separate and enclosed as an “enclosure” - so that they can be easily shared separately from the AO.
No cadet needs to wade through 25 pages of organisation and admin detail to find out what time the coach picks them up.
The sort of thing which was was utterly pointless was the email received which said “PSA regarding forthcoming Wing Staff meetings…”
Then you’d open a word document to find, with full formal letterhead:
"Dear all,
I suggest the following dates for the next 6 wing staff meetings…
blah…
If you have any items to add to the agenda please let me know.
Yours faithfully,
J SMITH
Sqn Ldr
Deputy OC Wing"
I’ve got about 30 of these in the study…
Ah, fair one. I thought you were implying that anything that would normally be written in the loose minute form should be in the body of the email.
In which case the example you give is definitely annoying!
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Thanks, so would things like CROs be an example of this?
Just trying to get my head around it! Although I suppose, it doesn’t really matter as email supercedes all.
I’ve heard the DW section on a recent OIC was very brief which is a shame as it is important to communicate effectively in written form.
Yeah, that’s a good example.
The latest version of JSP 101 is massively lacking in actual specific guidance. If you’re keen on ‘getting it right’ it’s well worth going through version 3.1 as well. It gives far more specifics which are still valid and includes some useful examples.
Version 4 can then be viewed as a sort of “change list” to move to the new format.
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Sadly I have been through a previous version (assuming 3.1) and it just made me feel a bit stupid in parts. Although I can’t remember specifics.
I found that in the beginning it was useful to refer back to it as I created the document.
It makes more sense the more you get used to it.
Totally mis read that as meaning you wrote the JSP for a second😂
Yes, if you use it regularly I can imagine it would become second nature. Unfortunately I don’t use it enough.
Does anyone know the rationale for double spaces after full stops? I didn’t grow up with it and didn’t know it was a thing and remember editing a document to remove them all. The author wasn’t too impressed!
Pedantry.
But I think it had something to do with typewriters initially. Modern word processors flag it as an error, though I imagine you could change the settings if that was your preference.
It was simply an old habit carried over to make things look nicer.
These days it’s unnecessary and in fact in version 4 it has been done away with.
No more double spaces.
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I find that having the templates with the proper Word styles set up helps massively (assuming you know how to use Word styles that is; many don’t). It may have been @wdimagineer2b that produced the ones I still use now, but I can’t quite remember.
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It could well be… I seem to recall sharing mine around here a while back.
I’m always somewhat surprised by how few people have been taught how to use the features of Word, like styles, tab stops, auto numbering… It’s not as though it’s new software.
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I have never heard of any of those things!
Far too young then!! How about CTRL + X ? 
I learned a lot in the 1990s writing a PhD thesis. That was Word 2.0c for Windows… but most of it is still useful.
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Oh yes, copying to a floppy disk by having to type out the command. If you wanted to add extra hardware / software, allow a couple of hrs to clear out all the glitches / reloads. Dial-up internet, call up a webpage, then go get a coffee, maybe the page had half-loaded by the time you got back. The good old tech days! 
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Are we done with Post Nominals?
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The boss has quite a lot after his name on the stand down letter
Years ago I was tasked to write a micro to remove double spaces before documents were handed off to the print shop, whose software didn’t like them. One of my career highlights.
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