I write documents and emails all the time. It is extremely time-consuming. Writing and editing documents is part of a process that helps you clarify your thoughts. But it's a really slow one. From what I've seen in my work experience in marketing, a lot of people spend much of their days sitting at their desk and agonizing on how they will write things down. Whether it's for a formal presentation, a long form memo, emails, etc.

Lawyers dictate. They also have dedicated staff to help them transcribe and re-organize speech in a coherent form. So I'm wondering why marketing never switched to dictation.

The funny thing is that marketers are extremely excited about the potential of voice recognition. Marketing strategies are transitioning away from a 'type-only' search model, fuelled by the proliferation of voice-enabled assistants such as Amazon's Echo, Google Home, Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana.

But while they're all bullish on voice as a way to sell more products, I sit here wondering why they would not be bullish on voice as a voice to work more efficiently. I think it's because a lot of marketing work is visual. We ten do work on powerpoint slides and stuff like that. But it remains that even powerpoints slides are simply an illustration of a clear thought process (aren't they?). So I'm thinking dictation can be a way to work faster but also smarter.

In 2018, I will give it a try. I will try to dictate some documents using a speech to text software. The main advantage is obviously that you can speak faster than you write. The second advantage is that we tend to use simpler language when we speak – because we need to be understood. And I also believe there's a third advantage, which is you think differently when you use your voice – it's a new physical feedback channel to hear yourself thinking out loud.