Writing Without Bullshit

If there is just one thing that enables action and change more than anything, it is bold, clear and powerful communication. But how often do we communicate this way?

"Writing Without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean" has been a quiet revolution to me. First, it left me speechless with the realization of how much bullshit I encounter (and generate) in my daily work. And then, it gave me hope that it was possible to transcend the bullshit with the help of simple yet powerful solutions. This book gives us the courage to say what we mean.

The book is about writing without bullshit, and some parts clearly focus on writing. But the key ideas and principles work not only for writing but for conversations and presentations as well. Most interesting in this book I found concrete examples of bullshit writing completely transformed with the methods proposed in this book.

My key takeaways

  • The Iron Imperative: Treat the reader's time as more valuable than your own.

  • Meaning Ratio = meaningful words / total words. A passage with a meaning ratio of 80% is readable. Once you get below 70%, you are in the bullshit territory.

  • In business, we write and communicate for one reason: to get things done.

  • Fear poisons how we communicate destroys clarity.

  • The trick is to write boldly even though you are afraid.

  • Bold communication can make a big difference, especially for women.

  • The tighter you write, the more persuasive you will be.

  • Write short:

    • Edit everything, make it a habit.

    • Aim for word count.

    • Say what you really mean.

    • Start boldly, not with a hedge or apology.

    • Organize relentlessly.

    • Prune sections and arguments.

    • Use bullets or tables.

    • Use graphics

    • Trim connective tissue

    • Delete weasel words and qualifiers.

  • Purge passive voice

  • Front-loading: putting a conclusion upfront.

  • 3 Rules of Thumb to use jargon properly:

    • You can use the terms that everyone in your audience knows.

    • Where a term has a specific, legally required definition, define it and use it.

    • If there is a term you want to use throughout a document, define it upfront.

  • Eliminate Weasel Words. They make you come off as wimpy and uncertain.

  • The weaker your argument, the more you hedge. The problem is: we can see you hedging. Your qualifiers weaken your argument.

  • Be direct. You can't write "you" unless you have a clear idea of your audience. The time to visualize your audience is before you start to write. Use "we" to show you are part of the team.

  • Use numbers wisely: always provide context, present causation responsibly, fight bias.

  • Writing without bullshit depends on data that's not bullshit.

  • Reveal the structure for anything that's more than 300 words long.

  • Real writers don't just type words; they mix in lots of goodies to keep the reader interested and enlightened. 

  • Typical 3Ps process for writing projects:  Procrastinate, Panic, Pray.

  • Disciplined process for writing without bullshit:  (1) Prepare (be paranoid early)  (2) Draft (find your flow) (3) Revise (manage reviews effectively)

  • ROAM: the Four Questions to Ask At the Start of every project: Readers (Who is the audience), Objectives (How will you change the reader?), Action (What do you want the reader to do?), iMpression (What will the reader think of you?)

  • "After reading this piece, [readers] will realize [objective], so they will [desired action] and think of me / us as [desired impression]".

  • The sum total of your emails makes more impact than anything else you do at work. Email purposefully. 

  • Anatomy of an effective email: 

    • A subject line that's clear about what you need

    • A microwave greeting

    • A one-sentence summary

    • The facts, on the topic only, structured for browsing. Be brief

    • The call to action with a deadline

    • Thank you, and goodbye

  • Clear writing gets you noticed.

Arina Divo