The human brain processes information by chunking - bundling up information into chunks to remember it. It’s like a .zip file or compression on an image. That process is a bit lossy. If you’ve ever tried to write a technical document or a rules-set for a game, and had a user go through the document undirected, you’ll see it in action.

The more complicated, technical, or tedious the instructions are, the more likely loss or misinterpretation will occur. A friend of mine says that writing a technical document is like programming a computer that skips every 7th line.

As a person who has written many of these, I’ve found ways to counteract / ameliorate their problems:

• the use of paragraphing important points that you want feedback on
• When sending to multiple people, but wanting feedback from a specific person, I bold, underline, and color their name next to their action item, so they know it’s for them
• Using checklists or bullet points
• explaining things through multiple avenues, like with visual images and with text simultaneously

I hope this helps!