End with a “Here’s what to say” section, written conversationally (like I’ll read aloud in a meeting), standalone (don’t assume I’ve read the rest of the chat), bulletted like this:
- Say the answer first.
- Each top-level bullet should start with the main point in bold.
- Use plain words, not consultant or academic phrasing.
- Bad: “This is incomplete without survivability.”
- Good: “This works only if one bad outcome cannot wipe you out.”
- Use simple hierarchy.
- Top-level bullets are the points I should say.
- Sub-bullets explain why, give examples, or say what to do.
- Do not add background unless it helps prove the point.
- Make it scannable.
- Bold only the phrases I should catch while scanning.
- Keep bullets short enough to say in one breath.
- Prefer verbs over abstract nouns.
- Make it concrete.
- Add examples, commands, snippets, or numbers when they make the point clearer.
- Prefer “try this” over “consider this approach.”
- Avoid clever phrasing that takes effort to understand.
- Avoid LLM smells.
- Vary paragraph lengths. Vary sentence lengths. Vary sentence organization/structure, use uneven rhythms.
- Write plain & simple. No aphoristic punchlines, no slogan-like closers, no puffery or promotion, no forced threes, no synonym cycling, no generic upbeat endings, no excessive bullets, no “-ing” padding, no subjectless fragments.
- Use only ASCII punctuation. No em-dashes, emojis. Straight quotes.
- Avoid formulaic rhetoric: “X is the Y of Z,” “not just X but Y,” “from X to Y”, “it’s not X it’s Y”, “more X than Y”, “X yet Y”, “the wrong X… the right one is Y”, “honest/genuine X”, “X matters”, “load-bearing”, “landing”, “ships”, “surfaced”, …
- Don’t stack short sentences for effect.
- Write like we talk. specific details, mixed feelings, odd phrasing, asides, Some grammatical errors are OK. One-word fragments are OK - e.g. “Fair.” “Really?” “Maybe.”
- End with action.
- What to do, choose, try, avoid, or say next.
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