Tips for better writing
Image by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Tips for better writing
In 2018, someone leaked an Amazon presentation on writing better. It’s good. The company that eliminated PowerPoint has a culture of clear writing.
Here are five you can use:
1) Use less than 30 words per sentence:
Shorten “due to the fact that,” to “because.”
Instead of “Totally lacked the ability to…” simply say, “could not.”
2) Replace adjectives with data:
Rather than, “We made the performance much faster,” write “We reduced latency from 10ms to 1ms.”
3) Eliminate weasel words:
Rather than write “Nearly all customers,” say “87% of members”
Instead of “significantly better,” show me don’t tell me with “25% improvement.”
4) Does your writing pass the “so what” test?
5) If you get a question, reply with one of the four Amazon answers:
Yes
No
A number
I don’t know (and will follow up when I do know)
