Exclude Unnecessary Information
The Elements of Style urges us to “omit needless words”:
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all their sentences short, or that they avoid all detail and treat their subjects only in outline, but that they make every word tell.1
This principle has become a core part of how I think about writing. I often fall short, but striving (and editing) are both healthy and helpful.
But I am often communicating in mediums and contexts not envisioned by Professor Strunk. Sometimes I am writing asynchronous communiques (emails), and other times synchronous chats. I may be presenting slides to a general audience, or discussing implementation details with a technical one. When writing posts such as this, I am balancing brevity with my desire to think through something and express myself fully.
“Omit needless words” is still a sound principle, but it doen’t fully capture these scenarios. So I humbly offer an analogue - exclude unnecessary information.