Use when drafting or revising non-academic prose such as emails, memos, letters, plans, articles, web copy, speeches, resumes, or executive briefs; use academic-writing for scholarly outputs and executive-communication for decision-led executive synthesis.
Use when drafting or revising non-academic prose such as emails, memos, letters, plans, articles, web copy, speeches, resumes, or executive briefs; use academic-writing for scholarly outputs and executive-communication for decision-led executive synthesis.
Single entry skill for any non-academic prose artifact. For reports, proposals, and white papers (longer-form persuasion artifacts with structural conventions of their own), load report-and-proposal-craft instead.
If the artifact explains, argues, persuades, recommends, evaluates, or interprets, run critical-reasoning-and-argument before drafting. This applies to market notes, strategy memos, intelligence-style updates, internal comms, speeches, fundraising letters, and executive briefings.
If the artifact describes how a system, process, workflow, operating model, interface, data architecture, requirements set, or design system works, run systems-process-requirements before drafting.
Growth engine first; metrics and experiments support
The seven-step process (load references/maxwell-7-steps.md)
Every non-academic artifact runs through:
Identify Readers & Purpose — name primary/secondary readers; one-sentence purpose.
Collect Information — source dossier; triangulate load-bearing facts.
Brainstorm — 15–20 candidate items without self-editing.
Organize — pick a structural pattern; outline as descriptive headings.
Draft — write fast; do not edit while drafting; use [TK] placeholders.
Revise — four passes (structure, paragraph, sentence, word) — never combined.
Proof — mechanical only; on paper or out loud; two human eyes.
Skipping a step or combining Steps 6 and 7 is the #1 quality failure.
The master rule (Roman & Raphaelson)
"Don't mumble."
Every sentence carries its point at full volume. Hedge soup, Latinate fog, and bureaucrat voice are cardinal sins. Detail in references/roman-raphaelson-principles.md (the 18 principles).
Reference index
Reference
Load when
references/maxwell-7-steps.md
Always — process spine for every artifact, plus channel overlays
references/roman-raphaelson-principles.md
Sentence-level prose discipline (18 principles, per-channel rules for email/memo/letter/plan/proposal/presentation/fund-raising/resume)
references/persuasion-and-narrative.md
Plans, pitches, fundraising, exec summaries — Hood plain English + Shiach persuasion + Geffner business style + Rubie/Provost narrative; also "make it sound less AI"
references/web-copywriting.md
Web pages, marketing copy, landing pages, blog post structure
references/blog-publishing-workflow.md
Producing a full blog article (topic dev, drafting, on-page structure, image prep, site integration)
references/language-standards-en-fr-sw.md
Multi-language artifacts: English (British/East African), French (Francophone African), Kiswahili (East African)
references/ai-assisted-writing.md
Any deliverable where an LLM is in the production chain — WI/AI division of labour, prompt design, fact-check discipline (Lindsell-Roberts)
references/scenario-playbooks.md
One-off communication artefacts where the message is hard — bad news, decline, apology, discourteous reply, policy change (Ramsey four-axis frame)
references/extended-channels.md
Pitch decks, one-pagers, training material, business plans, grant proposals, performance appraisals (Henwood / Lindsell-Roberts / Garner)
references/long-form-business-journalism.md
Long-form magazine writing — essay, investigative, profile, explainer — with craft lessons drawn from The Best Business Writing 2014 (Starkman et al.)
Use for non-academic prose where channel, audience, purpose, and action determine the form.
Do Not Use When
Use academic-writing for scholarship and report-and-proposal-craft for formal long reports or proposals.
Inputs
Input
Source/provider
If absent
Audience, channel, purpose, desired action
Requester
Stop and clarify the communication task
Facts, voice, constraints
Approved sources and organisation
Mark gaps; do not invent authority or examples
Workflow
Select the channel and desired reader action.
Gather verified substance and choose the fitting reference.
Draft answer-first in the requested voice.
Stop on unsupported persuasion; recover by qualifying or removing it.
Test clarity, accuracy, tone, and actionability.
Outputs
Artefact
Consumer
Acceptance condition
Channel-ready draft
Intended reader and sender
Purpose, evidence, voice, and requested action are clear
Writing Evidence Guidance
The source notes, audience/action decision, and final checklist support the draft.
Writing Capability Notes
Drafting is allowed only when requested. Sending, publishing, impersonation, spending, or binding commitments require explicit authority.
Degraded Mode
Fallback without facts or voice guidance: provide a labelled draft with gaps and placeholders; mark unavailable checks not assessed and do not present it as send-ready.
Decision Rules
Choice
Action
Failure/risk avoided
Reader needs a decision
Lead with the ask
Buried action
Claim is persuasive but unsupported
Remove or source it
Misrepresentation
Formal long-form deliverable
Route to report craft
Wrong structure
Quality Standards
The piece is specific to its reader and channel, factually traceable, concise enough for the purpose, and clear about the next action.
Business Writing Pitfalls
Writing before naming the reader; define them.
Burying the ask; lead with it.
Inflating weak evidence; qualify it.
Copying one voice across channels; adapt deliberately.
Sending a draft without authority; keep it unsent.
Worked Example
A decision email opens with the requested approval and deadline, then gives only the evidence needed to decide.
The draft's facts, voice, channel, and requested action trace to approved inputs
Capability Contract
Minimum capability is read-only access to the brief, approved facts, and voice guidance. Drafting, editing, sending, publishing, spending, or binding commitments require explicit authorisation.
Anti-Patterns
Writing before identifying the reader. Fix: define the reader and desired action.
Burying the ask. Fix: lead with the decision or response required.
Inflating weak evidence. Fix: source, qualify, or remove the claim.
Copying one voice across channels. Fix: adapt register deliberately.
Sending an unapproved draft. Fix: keep it labelled as a draft until authorised.
Companion skills
report-and-proposal-craft — long-form persuasion (reports, proposals, white papers).
critical-reasoning-and-argument — mandatory for non-academic prose that argues, recommends, evaluates, interprets, or persuades.
systems-process-requirements — for process notes, operating-model descriptions, requirements summaries, workflow explanations, and system/data/interface descriptions.
