Treat your writing like a product
TLDR: easy writing makes for hard reading; invest in editing and treat your reader like a customer Best ideas don't win. Best communication of the idea wins, as do the people behind them. The most powerful communication tool might be a snappy meme these days, but in business, it’s still the written word. Writing well supercharges your trajectory. Yet great writing is rare. Why? Turns out we’ve been taught some things that simply don’t apply:
Writing well lifts many boats: emails, scoping docs, strategy docs, analysis, resumes. We’ll cover how to rescue bad writing, then how to upgrade from good to great.
What’s the biggest difference between great writers and all the rest? It’s not talent, it’s treating the process like a product. Your reader is your customer. Your first draft is pre-MVP. To get to a quality shippable version, you need to iterate, aka edit. Amount of editing time depends on importance and length. A status update might require 10 minutes, but a strategy doc closer to a few days. Your first draft is your R&D: get ideas on paper and clarify your thinking. Your subsequent drafts are marketing: edit from your reader’s perspective to make your points persuasive.
Bad writing is hard to follow because it’s stream-of-consciousness which tends to leap around. Ironically, the magic of creative thinking comes from leaping and making unexpected connections. But to be appreciated for its brilliance, creative thinking needs to be translated into coherent writing.
