On the importance of having a writing culture at your company
I have not finished Chapter 2 of Never Split the Difference yet but I am taking a break to jot down a few thoughts (inspired by the book itself).
First of all, a diagram:
This scheme is me saying in “mathematical” terms that writing and listening are two cultural traits of successful companies in that they reveal a DNA of empathy and commitment to work. When evaluating job opportunities, we do not have much time or information. You want to ask the right questions to ensure that you will not end up on the wrong team…and discover that only two months later. That is why I’m trying to build a framework of “sufficient observable conditions”. Observability is the key here: look at the team as a system you are modeling and whose state you need to estimate. You (normally) do not know the internal state, that is why you can only get to the best estimate. What are the observable outputs you can use to derive that state? Let’s dive into those blocks
Writing requires people to work. This does not mean that a great orator does not work enough. Ideally, you want both: great writing and verbal skills. But the latter to me will not suffice. Luckily, while you cannot prove whether a team makes only a lot of talks, you can prove whether they write a lot, or at least get a good sense for it. Is hard work a necessary condition to form a writing culture (so would the arrow work also in the other direction)? I do not think so. You need an intentional drive to establish a writing culture and the experience to implement it successfully.
Listening requires people to be empathetic. In order to care about listening, you need to be empathetic. Is there something like a person who cares about your thoughts and is not empathetic? I do not think so. Listening is the language of empathy. Ok, this is nice: listening is the language. I love oxymorons.
There is a further connection in the graph above that I think is currently missing and it is the connection between writing and listening. So let me share a reframed graph:
I cannot say that a writing culture implies a listening culture and that is why the dotted line. But one thing is materially true: a writing culture favors listening. If we have a meeting and I have shared my thoughts in advance in a document, I will be able to dedicate less time to the talking part and more time to listening to others. There should be a “reading” block somewhere in between writing and listening: needless to say, if people do not read the document, then even more talking is required. But a “reading culture” is not easily observable.
A writing culture is a strong indicator of a listening culture and a listening culture means an empathetic team, someone you want to work with, but also someone that listens to users and can build a successful business.