Why I'm writing more (and how I'm learning to do it)

I’ve spent years solving problems inside companies. In the AI era, where autogenerated text is cheap, clear thinking matters more than ever. Writing forces me to articulate what I actually believe.

I picked up William Zinsser’s On Writing Well expecting craft tips. What I found instead was a mirror held up to all my lazy habits: jargon and acronyms, hedge words that dilute conviction, and the assumption that complexity signals expertise. Zinsser argues that clutter is the disease and clarity is the cure. Most of my internal docs have been terminally ill.

I’m writing more, but I’m also learning how to write. Here are the rules I’m practicing:

1) Write like I talk. If I wouldn’t say it over coffee, I don’t write it. “Utilize” becomes “use.” “Leverage” becomes “use.” Plain words force plain thinking.

2) Strip the clutter. “We need to use a multi-tiered approach to optimize our data pipeline architecture” became “We should cache data at three points.” Shorter, clearer, easier to understand.

3) Use the first person. Corporate “we” diffuses responsibility. “I believe” or “I chose” creates accountability and makes the writing feel human.

4) Trust the reader. I cut apologetic preambles and over-explanation. Ambiguity isn’t always bad; sometimes a sharp edge is needed to move a decision forward.

5) Rewrite. First drafts are for getting thoughts out; subsequent drafts make them readable. Prose isn’t code; it needs to breathe, be read aloud, and survive daylight.

Writing is my clarity check. If I can’t explain a technical decision in plain English, I probably don’t understand it. I’m writing to keep myself honest and to make sure what I build is based on clear thinking, not just a mix of bad habits and AI slop.