The async worker's guide to writing

Summary

If writing is the number one remote working superpower, then we must all get better at it. Here’s how to level up your writing game.

Structure your thoughts into an outline.
Organise your information in descending order of importance.
Break up your document using headings.
Write as you speak, in plain English.
Make your document scannable using bullets, emojis, a table of contents, images and tables.
Show empathy for your reader by providing context, telling them how long it’ll take to read and continuously refactoring what you write.

Writing is the number one remote working superpower. There’s no other universal skill that helps you build clarity faster at scale. Video is great, but it needs special skills and maintaining video is hard. Conversations are fine, but writing has a “create once, share many” edge over conversations. Writing’s far more consistent than conversations as well. And of course, the written word is less prone to the game of telephone than conversations.

So it makes sense to up your writing game. Here are a few simple ways to go about it.

Organise your content into an outline

Before you write a document for a specific purpose, think about the key points you wish to address. Organise them into a bulleted outline. This is helpful for a couple of reasons.

You don’t ramble when you write. Every sentence serves the document’s purpose or is a part of your narrative.
The outline allows you to think of the sequence of your writing. You can figure out how to start, what the middle part will be like and how you’ll end.

Start writing with the end in mind

Think like a journalist, not a novelist. Get to your purpose in the first few lines. The inverted pyramid of journalism is an effective tool to visualise how your document must flow. Start with the most important information on top. Organise your content in descending order of importance. That way, even if people don’t read to the end, they’d have encountered the most important information at the start.

Break it up

If your document is any longer than a page, break it up into smaller parts. This is where your outline comes in handy again. Unless your outline is too detailed, it can morph into headings and subheadings for your writing. This’ll nudge you to keep each part of your document crisp. Remember, most people are reluctant readers these days. When you break up your long document into smaller parts, you give them a sense of achievement as they go from one heading to the next.

Write in plain English

The content under each heading must be easy to read as well. Many professional documents are difficult to read because people write them as if they’re writing legalese. Take it easy, folks! This is not the place to show off your vocabulary or your creative writing skills. Instead, write as you speak. The plain English campaign is a great place to learn how to write like a human being. Let me share a few things I do when I write.

Practice	Why	How not to write	How to write instead
Write in active voice	It’s clearer and you sound more confident.	object-verb-(subject) “The document will be written…”	subject-verb-object “The tech lead will write the document”
Avoid corporate bullshit	People can detect bullshit. Using simple language makes you sound credible.	“Our approach was to research, design and construct a policy to facilitate & simplify a collaborative development journey among multiple entities with shared interests to create meaningful value for users or the ecosystem, keeping in view the larger social good.”	“We ran a series of workshops to help our clients design their policy framework.”
Use simple words over complex ones	You’re easy to understand	Example words: Elucidate, commence, remuneration	Example alternatives: Explain, start, salary
Speak to the reader	You make a connection with the reader	“Developers must raise a pull request… “	“When you’re done, raise a pull request…”
Avoid using nouns when you can use verbs	It makes your writing punchy	“I am doing an analysis of this user story.”	“I’m analysing this user story.”
Write for an 8th-grade audience	It’s easy to read!	Long sentences and fancy words.	Short sentences. Simple words.

Make it scannable

People who read your document are likely attention-starved. Make it easy for them to skim to the document and understand the gist of it. There are a few practices that help.

Bullet points

These help split up information, and they nudge you to make a coherent point with each line. If you use emojis instead of standard bullets, you can make them stand out. And here’s a hot tip. If you organise your bullets in ascending or descending order of length or in groups or pairs, you make them even easier to scan. See the image below for examples.

Emojis

Don’t underestimate the power of these characters. They’re a bona fide communication tool of our times. You can make headings and information stand out when you use them. We’ve discussed a few examples in a previous post, which I’ll repeat here.

⏰or 🗓️for deadlines
📊for data
🛑for risks
💡for ideas
💵for costs
🫶🏽for benefits
🚨for alerts

If you’ve worked with an outline, a ToC is easy to produce. Most documentation tools such as Confluence and Google Docs will produce a clickable outline for you at the click of a button. Pair your headings with relevant emojis, and you’ll make your document even easier to scan. The screenshot below shows how such an outline can look.

Image of a table of contents with emojis — By pairing your outline with emojis you make it easier to scan

Images

As we’ve discussed earlier on this site, a picture speaks a thousand words. There’s a reason this post includes images as well, right? Not only does it make a concept easier to understand, but it also breaks up the monotony of textual information. Just one word of caution. Don’t use images instead of text. When you embed information in images, you make your document tough to read for people with visual disabilities. Instead, use images to clarify what you’ve already written in the text. That way, it’s an add-on, but not a vehicle for your message.

Tables

Even in this post, you’ll notice that I used a table to describe my approach to writing in plain English. When you can structure your content into categories and dimensions, you’ll find tables an effective way to present information. You can colour code cells so they stand out visually, and you can also use bullet points inside cells to make their content easy to scan. The screenshot below shows an example of such a table from a previous article.

Don’t forget to show empathy

Last but not least, put yourself in the shoes of your reader. Reading your document shouldn’t be a chore for them. Even when you’ve tried every trick in your bag, here are a few more things you must do.

Assume low context. Imagine that your readers know very little about the topic at hand. Point them to introductory materials or context if any. Don’t make them feel silly for not understanding what you’ve written. Instead, explain it like they’re five. Without patronising them, of course.
Tell them how long it’ll take. I usually start most work documents with a note telling readers how long it’ll take them to read as you see in the image below. It’s quite simple. The average person with a college education can read 265 words per minute, if not more. Divide your word count by that number and you’ll get the reading time for your document.

Tell people up-front how much time they should set aside to read

Read and refactor. Just like code, writing needs continuous improvement as well. Read what you’ve written. Reflect on it. Sharpen it. You can do this even after you’ve shared the document. When you have a culture of iterative improvements, you can apply it to your documentation as well. By improving your documents regularly, you don’t just keep them fresh, you also show care for anyone who’ll read them in the future.

In 2023, there’s no reason to write badly. Traditional tools like Microsoft Word and Google Docs give you instant feedback on spelling and grammar. Tools like Microsoft’s readability score help you improve your writing through intelligent suggestions. Modern alternatives like Grammarly, ProWritingAid and Notion AI can even take your writing to the next level. And if you want to learn more, there are courses to help you get better. This is a skill we’ve practised for several years of formal education. Don’t you think it’s time we unleash this superpower?