Start with intention and outline

Two things before any writing

Every product starts with two things: what it aims to do, and what it covers. Answer both before writing a single word.

Pick the intention

• Informteaches the reader something they didn't know
• Inspire actionmotivates them to do something specific
• Provide referencesomething they return to repeatedly
• Deliver a systema repeatable process they can follow
• Build a skillhands-on, step by step

Then write the outline

An outline is just the skeleton — the section headers and one sentence describing what each section covers. Nothing more. Don't write the content yet.

Get the outline approved before writing

Show it to a peer, your community, or paste it into Claude and ask: *"Does this outline logically cover the topic for someone who has never done this before?"*