<aside> 👀 To set the stage, you should first read about why we are Avo is remote-first and async-first [public] and then it will be helpful to read How we communicate [public], and our Tiers of urgency [public] along with this guide on clear written communication.

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As a growing startup, and particularly as a distributed team, clear written communication is vital to our success. So we need to make sure we have outstanding written communication.

What's good and what's bad?

<aside> 👀 Please watch Michael Dearing's talk on clear communication and the Minto summary, and particularly note his highlight of bad and good written communication at around 18:26. This talk is available as video or transcribed.

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The key take-away is that you become more efficient with clear communication, and more inefficient with vague communication.

How do we write clear text?

There are probably multiple frameworks for ensuring clear written communication. The Minto Framework is one of them. (Which Michael also covers in the above talk).

We leverage “Mintos” extensively at Avo, and you should too.

When is it appropriate?

It's appropriate to try this on almost anything. Particularly when practicing this train of thought.

Examples

1. Below is my train of thought for the simple decision of whether I should create a customer proposal in Google Slides or Keynote.
2. As an example of a more important document, the ‣ executive summary is also written with the Minto Principle.