Use simple words to let your ideas shine ✨

Do you enjoy long, rambling texts that take forever to get to the point? Yeah, me neither. So if you want your writing to be clear, here are some ideas.

Simple words let your ideas shine. They make your writing concise, readable, and accessible to more people. Readers are more likely to follow your argument and remember your points.

Unfortunately, it is hard. You have to think about each word and consider different ways of phrasing an idea. This takes time and effort. As Winston Churchill famously said:

If you want me to speak for two minutes, it will take me three weeks of preparation. If you want me to speak for thirty minutes, it will take me a week to prepare. If you want me to speak for an hour, I am ready now.

So how do make your writing simpler?

• Remove any word that is not necessary. Don’t add everything that could possibly be useful.
• Prefer words your reader already knows. Explain any hard words, and don’t use complicated words to hide gaps in your own knowledge or to look smart.
• Prefer shorter sentences.
• Use active voice: “the team completed the project” is clearer than “the project was completed by the team”.
• Remove repetition. Make sure you say each thing clearly, so you don’t have to repeat yourself.
• Be specific. Replace vague words like “things” or “stuff” with concrete terms.
• Avoid hedging, weakening your idea with words like “perhaps” or “sometimes”.

When you’re finished, read the text aloud to spot awkward phrasing and unnecessary words. Accept that your first draft will not be good. Expect to rewrite several times.

Here’s an example from an early draft of Break down silos with a walking skeleton.

One of the perhaps less obvious benefits of implementing this approach in an organization is that it forces developers to actually talk to each other from the beginning of the project.

Most words in this beast of a sentence are unnecessary or obvious from context. After several rounds of editing, this is what was left.

A less obvious benefit is that it forces developers to talk.

Much better, don’t you think?

Simple words aren’t always simple to write. But if Churchill could spend three weeks on a two-minute speech, you can spend a few edits on your next paragraph. 😉 Each small improvement makes your writing clearer and your ideas shine brighter.

(And you know what? The same principles apply to software!)