Business Writing

Business Writing

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.

Channel router

The seven-step process (load references/maxwell-7-steps.md)

Every non-academic artifact runs through:

1. Identify Readers & Purpose — name primary/secondary readers; one-sentence purpose.
2. Collect Information — source dossier; triangulate load-bearing facts.
3. Brainstorm — 15–20 candidate items without self-editing.
4. Organize — pick a structural pattern; outline as descriptive headings.
5. Draft — write fast; do not edit while drafting; use [TK] placeholders.
6. Revise — four passes (structure, paragraph, sentence, word) — never combined.
7. 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

Universal anti-patterns

• Mumbling — soft openings, hedge stacks, evasive verbs.
• Latinate fog — facilitate, utilize, leverage, optimize, expedite.
• Bureaucrat voice — heretofore, pursuant, said party, the aforementioned.
• Passive evasion — "it was decided that…" hiding the actor.
• Adjective inflation — significant, substantial, world-class, leading.
• Buried lead — recommendation on page 4.
• Walls of text — paragraphs over 5 sentences without break.
• One-size email — same long email used for an ask, an FYI, and a heads-up.
• Drafting before outlining (Step 4 skipped).
• Editing while drafting (Step 5 corrupted with Step 6).
• Combining revision passes (rewriting in circles).
• Treating proof as revision — missing typos and link rot.
• Sounds-like-AI prose — repeated reporting verbs, unhedged certainty, perfectly parallel sentences, no quirks. Load references/persuasion-and-narrative.md.

Universal ship gate

• Channel identified; right reference loaded.
• Step 1 purpose statement written.
• critical-reasoning-and-argument run where the artifact contains a claim, recommendation, interpretation, or persuasive ask.
• systems-process-requirements run where the artifact describes systems, processes, requirements, scope, workflow, data, interfaces, or design systems.
• Outline approved before drafting.
• Lead carries the news; nothing buried.
• Average sentence ≤20 words; max 30; varied length.
• One idea per paragraph; ≤5 sentences typical.
• Active voice unless deliberate.
• No Latinate substitutes where Anglo-Saxon works.
• No vague adjectives (significant, substantial, very, really).
• Numbers, names, dates instead of adjectives.
• First-revision cut ≥25 %.
• Channel-specific rule applied (subject line, F-pattern, slide discipline, etc.).
• Mechanical proof on paper / out loud; two human eyes for external artifacts.
• Multi-language: per-language register rules verified.

Companion skills

Use When

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

Workflow

1. Select the channel and desired reader action.
2. Gather verified substance and choose the fitting reference.
3. Draft answer-first in the requested voice.
4. Stop on unsupported persuasion; recover by qualifying or removing it.
5. Test clarity, accuracy, tone, and actionability.

Outputs

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

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.

References

• Seven-step process
• Channel scenarios

Evidence Produced

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.
• academic-writing — papers, essays, theses, dissertations.
• web-scraping-foundations — for pulling source material when needed.