# Writing Is Magic

DevFeed: [Writing Is Magic](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/writing-is-magic-12527.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<http://brooker.co.za/blog/2022/11/08/writing.html>)

Author: Marc Brooker

Published: 2022-11-08T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Marc Brooker's Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/marc-brooker-s-blog.md>), [Marc Brooker's Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/marc-brooker-s-blog-2.md>)

Topics: [engineering-culture](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/engineering-culture.md>), [Code review](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/code-review.md>), [Slack](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/slack.md>)

Tags: [opinion](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/opinion.md>), [review](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/review.md>), [slack](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/slack.md>), [writing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/writing.md>)

## AI overview

The article argues that long-form writing is a powerful way to communicate ideas, influence decisions, and build consensus at work. It highlights writing's benefits for clarifying one's own thinking, gaining focused attention from readers, and allowing ideas and arguments to reach people over time.

## Source excerpt

Writing Is Magic Magic can be dangerous. Sometimes when folks ask me for advice at work, I write them very long emails to answer their question. Sometimes, those emails are generally interesting and not work-specific, so I share them here. A couple days ago somebody asked me about how to get better at communicating their ideas and opinions, how to extend their influence, and how to drive consensus. This was my reply. There are many ways to be influential. You can form 1:1 relationships with people, have small group meetings, do talks, send out a code review, or argue in Slack. All of those can be valuable at the right time. But there's one tool that I choose most often: long-form writing. Writing is the closest thing I know to magic. Nearly every time I need to drive a difficult, subtle, or contentious decision, I write a document. Sometimes that's half a page, sometimes its six pages. Sometimes much longer, although brevity is valuable. I see a few benefits to this approach that keep me coming back it it again and again. First, clarity. I'm sure you know the quote "Writing is nature's way of letting you know how sloppy your thinking is"1, and knowing how sloppy your thinking is allows you to sharpen it, test your arguments, and test different explanations. I find, more often than not, that I understand something much less well when I sit down to write about it than when I'm thinking about it in the shower. In fact, I find that I change my own mind on things a lot when I try write them down. It really is a powerful tool for finding clarity in your own mind. Once you have clarity in your own mind, you're much more able to explain it to others. Second, time. Getting people's full, focused, attention on your ideas is very hard. Reading, if your team has a strong document culture, is one of the only ways to do that. You give people a couple pages to read, ideally on paper, and they're likely to be quiet and focus on understanding your ideas for at least a few minutes. Y