I'm always conflicted about long-form writing. Particularly when dealing with senior management and executives, the "wall of text" is a great way to ensure no one actually reads what you have to say (edit: unless, like the OP, you work at Amazon where Bezos established the notion of the 6-pager).<p>In those circumstances I tend to opt for inverted pyramid writing, in the hopes that the skimmers will get the gist and folks who really care for the details will get what they need.<p>But it's a tough balance, which is why it's critical to a) know your audience and b) have a clear understanding of what you're expecting when you're communicating. Are you sharing information? Communicating a decision? Seeking feedback or approval? All of those may require flexing into a different style to be most effective, particularly when taking audience into account.
I feel that the author adequately explained why writing is <i>important</i> but never quite justified why it is <i>magical</i>. I was hoping to read more about how writing is essentially a hypnosis spell where you use runes to make the readers hallucinate (which is what fiction & fantasy essentially do).
This is good advice for clarifying your own thoughts, but your ability to communicate effectively through writing is very dependent on whether or not your team is composed of readers.<p>I personally enjoy writing design documents and feel that they help me organize and systematize my thinking in a way that few other tools can. My coworkers don't share this view, however, so I usually end up writing for an audience of one.