Business Writing Should Always Answer a Key Question

An easy way to spot bad business writing is to check if it poses and answers a key question. Even a highly detailed document that goes to great lengths to explore a subject is not useful if it leaves it up to the reader to figure out what to do about it.

I can imagine there is hesitation in putting oneself out there by answering the question. There’s the possibility of being wrong and that can feel risky. However, a huge part of effective business writing is answering the question which was important to write about in the first place.

See also:

• The Minto Pyramid Principle
• This is an example of the principal-agent problem, the principal wants to solve problems, the agent wants to avoid being wrong
• Problems are conflicts between ideas, if there is no conflict then there is no point in writing about it

Links to this note

• How to Work Asynchronously

  One of the greatest advantages that remote-first companies have is that work happens asynchronously. I lead to a culture of writing things down. It allows teams to be flexible between working styles and time-zones (up to a point). It creates a more equitable environment regardless of physical location.

• Async Work Is Doing More Things in Parallel but Slower

  Working asynchronously is an important reason why remote teams work. However, it can devolve into anti-patterns.

• Why All My Business Writing Is in Latex

  In my day-to-day business dealings, people are surprised when they receive LaTeX-generated documents for business proposals, memos, etc. from me.

• The Pyramid Principle (Literature Notes)

  The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto.

• Writing a Message Should Be Brief and Contain a Single Idea

  Effective writing that gets a response is written for busy people. The message should be constrained to a single idea. The message should be brief, reducing as many words as possible.

• Writing Makes You Live Curiously

  Questions naturally arise when writing. Since writing is thinking, when we turn over an idea in our head, we can’t help spotting things we don’t understand or finding a topic we want to learn more about.

• SCQA

  SCQA stands for the *s*ituation, *c*omplication, *q*uestion, and *a*nswer. It’s a way of writing an introduction in a way that clearly communicates the key question a piece of writing will answer.