Ever get a document that's ten pages long, full legalese,and full of wheels within wheels and written as if by a committee? And it could have been expressed in two pages in plain language? When I do, I spend most of my time trying to find the "information" that is buried in the doc. I'm usually too embarrassed to ask the author early on for clarification because surely, I tell myself, I'm smart enough to decipher it.

Ever been guilty of writing one to foist onto your customer that you wouldn't care to read yourself? (I plead the fifth)

If I write the doc in order to communicate a valuable piece of information and then get zero feedback, how could my effort not have been wasted? I then know I failed in my communication. 

The Antidote After the Failure? A short email with 5 bullet summary of what I was really trying to say the first time!