Metadata
- inherits:
../short-form-voice-adjustments/SKILL.md - formats: X single, X thread, LinkedIn
short-form-present-vs-future
Compare how a thing is done today vs how it will be done — soon, or with a new tool, or after a shift. Adjacent to short-form-x-vs-y, but the contrast is temporal: now vs next.
Structure (LinkedIn)
[Hook: the contrast in one line.
Examples:
- "Writing tickets used to take me 3 hours. Now it takes 3 minutes. Same quality."
- "Last year: 9 SaaS subscriptions for product management. This year: 1 chat thread."]
[Today: 2-3 lines on the current way. The cost, the friction, the time.]
[Tomorrow (or now, with the new approach): 2-3 lines on the new way. Concrete tools, workflow, output.]
[The shift — 1-2 lines on what changed and why it matters.]
[Closer: the rule the shift implies.]
Rules
- Both sides must be real and recent. "How we used to write code in 2010" is too far back to matter. "Last year" or "last quarter" is the sweet spot.
- Specifics are everything. Number of hours, number of tools, name the tools. Vague present-vs-future is AI slop.
- Don't predict — describe. If you're talking future, say what YOU are already doing differently. Don't speculate.
- Land on a rule. The contrast itself isn't the post — the implication is.
Anti-patterns
- Hype futurism without specifics ("AI will change everything!"). Banned.
- "In 5 years…" predictions that you can't back up. Stick to what you've already changed.
- Symmetry trap — listing 5 things old vs 5 things new with no insight. Pick the contrast that matters.
- "RIP [old thing]" framing. Lazy.
Example shapes
Two illustrative present-vs-future framings (replace with shifts you're actually experiencing):
- The reframed-obstacle shape: "The old way: spend 3 hours in dashboards. The new way: one /pulse command. The dashboards weren't the work — they were the obstacle."
- The collapsed-toolchain shape: "Old: 9 tools for content. New: 1 doc + 1 cron. Same output."
For author-specific references in your voice, see writing-style/SKILL.md.