intent

Topics in the source

• Start from the person
• Before you write
• While you write
• Review from their side

A piece works when the person who meets it recognizes their own situation, gets something useful before being asked for anything, and leaves knowing the next step. Write for one real reader, not for "users". Answer these five in a few lines each. If you cannot answer one, find out (read the code, the ticket, the analytics, the support thread) before writing. 1. Who arrives, and in what state? In a hurry, worried, curious, comparing options, coming from an error? 2. What do they want and not say? The need under the request: to not look foolish, to save the afternoon, to be sure nothing breaks. 3. What blocks them? Doubt, jargon, a missing fact, a step that looks risky, a price they cannot find. 4. What do they leave with? One concrete result: a working setup, an answer, a decision. 5. What is the next step? One action, named plainly. Name their tension in their words, so they recognize themselves in the first lines. Prove by use. Show the thing working (a command, a screenshot, an example with real values) instead of describing how good it is. Give before you ask. The useful part comes before the sign-up, the star, the purchase. True facts only. No invented scarcity, deadlines, numb

This is an excerpt. Refer to the complete source and its current requirements.