The three passes

Strike, replace, read aloud.

1. Pass 01

   Strike

   I cross out every word that is doing no work. The hedging, the throat-clearing, the words there only to impress whoever signed them off. Most sentences lose a third of themselves here and miss nothing.

2. Pass 02

   Replace

   What survives the strike still has jargon hiding in it. I swap each one for the plain word underneath. Say the thing, not the thing about the thing. Short words, working hard.

3. Pass 03

   Read aloud

   If you stumble saying it, your reader will stumble reading it. I read the result out, fix the snag, then read it once more on someone who was never in the room. When it lands clean, it is done.

The cut, in red

The dead words struck. The truth beneath.

• We are fully committed to leveraging our core synergies in order to help you facilitate the delivery of optimal stakeholder outcomes say what you mean.

  We help you say what you mean.

  18 words → 6 words

• At this present moment in time we are actively exploring a range of potential opportunities to are deciding what to say next.

  We are deciding what to say next.

  19 words → 7 words

• Our platform leverages a suite of best-in-class methodologies to drive synergistic value across the entire customer journey, and it does one thing well.

  It does one thing well.

  20 words → 5 words

Muddle and clear

The same idea, twice.

Rules I do not break

Four, and they hold on every job.

• Rule 01

  Cut before you add

  Clarity is subtraction. I take away first, and usually that is the whole job done.

• Rule 02

  One idea a sentence

  If a sentence carries two thoughts, it carries neither well. So I split it, or I drop one.

• Rule 03

  Say the thing

  Not the thing about the thing. Name it plainly, then move on to the next line.

• Rule 04

  Read it aloud

  The ear catches what the eye forgives. If it does not sound like you, it is not finished.