The 4 Cs of writing at Amazon

Much has been said about Amazon’s writing-first culture. Our press release format, our love for 1 and 6-pagers, as well as the way we kick off meetings devoting time to silent reading, are unique artefacts of our culture. Though we have not categorically banned PowerPoint, we became outspokenly conscious about where we prefer to harvest the power of narratives over slides. On top of universally agreeing on one communication vehicle: the narrative, we came to develop mechanisms to contain language in order to simplify style, while emphasizing on substance. Our writing culture is special. We aim to convey information in the shortest and most understandable way possible.

For many, accepting writing as an important instrument to accomplishing business goals is already a challenging task, however polishing your writing in accordance with above principles is a totally different beast. This article introduces Amazon writing principles to help you to become an effective business writer.

Why does it even matter?

When I joined Amazon almost 6 years ago, I was quite certain to have somewhat mastered the skill of written communication. It wasn’t long until I painfully discovered how wrong I was. When writing my very first document at Amazon, I had limited knowledge of Amazon’s writing principles. Furthermore, I had almost no appreciation for the reduction of language for the purpose of clarity. My formal education and cultural background manifested the believe that intelligence is conveyed through articulate communication. I simply missed the point that articulate communication does not equal eloquence. After finishing and unpreparedly sharing my first document with a wider audience of tenured Amazonians, I received a memorable yet highly unpleasant lesson. It taught me one important fact: Writing at Amazon is not about style, it is about essence!

Fast forward to today I can say that almost all of my success here at Amazon can be traced back to my writing skill. Over the course of close to 6 years of my Amazon journey, I had the opportunity to write, read and review hundreds of documents. These were quarterly business reviews, initiative proposals, promotions, PRFAQs, and many more. So how did I come from where I was to where I am?

At this stage you might rightfully say: “Hey, why would anybody even bother? I understand that essence is important, but I don’t have any reason to write. Why is this even an activity worth spending energy on?” Well, the answer is fairly simple: In addition to understanding that essence matters, you are likely to agree that being the author forges an inseparable connection between your person and the idea. Authoring a valuable narrative can change the trajectory of your career. It can propel your advancement, but most importantly, it can help you to influence your organization’s direction.

Let me walk you through the principles of business writing at Amazon.

Principles of business writing at Amazon

As a business writer, you must put substance over style. Your goal is to convey information with the least amount of distortion, thereby foster better discussions and ultimately decisions. For this, you must write cohesively, coherently, clearly, and correctly.

However, before you write, become aware of 4 fundamental dimensions:

1. Start with why - Select your audience and determine why your document is important; What answers are you producing, or what questions are you asking
2. Complication - Analyze the situation, challenge, or background you plan to deploy as anchor point for your arguments
3. Arguments - Amass the arguments you will make to convey your intention, plan, or initiative
4. Evidence - Aggregate the right amount of corroborative evidence/data to support your position.

Start with why: Be mindful of your primary, and secondary audiences. Identify key contributors and decision makers. Become aware of your audiences’ subject matter expertise and their interest in your document. Your audience understanding has significant influence on your document’s message. Author the introduction in alignment with your audience’s most important expectations. This is the first section your audience will consume; Say what the document does, yet keep it succinct, simple, and clear.

Complication: Set an anchor point for your arguments; Provide a clear, concise, and complete overview of the situation. Ensure your audience understands underpinning circumstances by making adequate use of data; This section is where you lay the foundation for your Arguments.

Arguments: Tell a story to make your case. Use compelling arguments and deliver evidence, including anecdotes with complementary information. Have a balanced view. Provide at least two perspectives (proposal/suggestion/solution vs. risk). If your document presents highly debated topics, discuss the points of view that are not part of the solution, and layout how considering them improved the suggested solution. Ensure that the content is fully understood by subject matter experts (SME) and non-SMEs alike. Eliminate jargon, succinctly and accessibly explain key concepts. Present your data clearly, thereby enhance the purpose or goal of the narrative.

Evidence: You support arguments with data that is current and tested for accuracy. Your narrative must not rely on a stream of numbers. All presented data needs to be relevant to the argument and suggested solution. Conduct complete, and rigorous analysis, and ensure your data contains metrics as needed to accurately measure or forecast outcomes. As the author, ensure to precede your data by an introductory text that tells the story of the information. In short, your writing tells the story, and the table tells the number.

Essence over style: The 4 Cs of writing

So what happens next? When it is time to translate theory into practice and apply the 4 dimensions of constructing your narrative, you not only need a compelling reason to write, but also a good understanding of how to ensure that your writing is understandable.

In alignment with the 7 Cs of communication, I created the concept of the “4 Cs of writing at Amazon“. This framework helped me to become hyper aware of simple, yet very powerful practices to demonstrate clarity of thought.

Clarity: Let’s start with Clarity. Clarity in writing means the ease with which a reader can understand you. It means avoiding unintended ambiguity or confusing and convoluted sentence structure. Coherent, intelligible meaning, and sharpness of image or idea. Imagine a pyramid. Words represent the very foundation. Sentences, paragraphs, and chapters/sections are atop of words and guide your document structure. Remember to use each word by its single meaning, build sentences that carry one idea, construct paragraphs that convey a single argument, and author your narrative in alignment with a single message. Finally, tell a story!

Conciseness: Use direct and active voice. Write sentences that flow by varying the lengths and structures, the use of correct punctuation, and broadening your word choices. Use simple transitions, such as “in addition, additionally, furthermore, therefore, thus, on the contrary, by the same token, at the same time, in other words, etc.” Repeat your keywords but be careful of excessive repetition. Take the liberty to repeat sentence structures, to ensure thematic consistency and flow. Start every sentence or paragraph with information that hints at the content of the next sentence. Ensure that 70-100% of your sentences are 20 or fewer words. Algorithms such as the Automated Readability Index (ARI), Gunning Fog (FOG), Coleman Liau,Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) help you to review complexity and readability. Aim to minimize complexity (reading level 5-8th grade) and maximize comprehension.

Coherence: Strict information organization enhances your narrative’s impact. Arrange sections, paragraphs, and sentences in a logical format and sequence that presents a complete, compelling story. In addition to clarity through precision (thesaurus), you will require logically conclusive and cohesive paragraphs. While using paragraphs to structure text, you will aim to communicate one important idea per paragraph. In fact, within each paragraph, ideas can be structured in various ways. A common approach is the "Paragraph Hamburger". Start with a topic sentence – the big idea (top bun) – and then develop it with details or examples (meat). Paragraphs often end with a hook (bottom bun) to make you consider the ideas included in the paragraph that you have just read, or a link to the next paragraph. You can connect paragraphs hierarchically.

Correctness: Write correctly. Avoid spelling, grammar, punctuation, style guide errors, and weasel words. Syntactical correctness is a testament to one of Amazon’s leadership principles: Insist on the highest standards. Spellcheckers and writing assistants such as Grammarly can be helpful mechanisms to improve writing quality, yet they are unlikely to affect the author’s knowledge of writing fundamentals. Correct punctuation, grammar, and spelling are representative of a writer’s quality. In order to make your meaning understood, you must follow the basic rules and conventions of your chosen language. These rules and conventions are not too difficult, but if you get them wrong you will be in trouble.

Conclusion

Writing effective narratives can become a much less daunting task if you build sensitivity to a set of rather simple rules. This is to say, that becoming a writer is absolutely not an overnight task. It takes the combination of the right mindset, motivation, as well as endurance. Stay tuned for my next article where I will shed some light on how I applied James Clear’s concept of Atomic Habits to make writing become attractive, easy, and satisfying. In the meantime, feel free to study:

• The Elements of Style – William Strunk
• On writing well, classic guide to writing non fiction – William Zinsser
• How to Write Clearly: Write with purpose, reach your reader and make your meaning crystal clear – Tom Albrighton
• PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English – Stephen Howe
• Writing Science in Plain English – Anne E. Greene
• Eats, Shoots and Leaves – Lynne Truss
• Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English – Patricia T. O’Conner