The writing myth that keeps good ideas off the page
“I’m not a good writer.” As a content strategist at Figma, I hear this constantly—usually right before watching the same person clearly articulate technical architecture, present a new feature, or pitch a product roadmap. My job is often just translating their already-organized thoughts into a blog post. Every time, they’re surprised to find they were wrong about their own writing ability.
Nobody begins as a polished writer. As poet Mary Ruefle notes about Shakespeare: in the beginning, he was a baby who knew absolutely nothing. The gap between “good” and “bad” writers isn’t talent—it’s willingness to embrace feedback, work with editors, and practice deliberately. Writing is a muscle; effort over time produces results.
Why writing is a technical skill now
The ability to articulate ideas clearly has never been more valuable. At Figma, storytelling bridges imagination and reality: engineers draft docs on new technical approaches, designers justify their decisions, and product managers write PRDs to align teams. This pattern extends beyond Figma—companies like Microsoft and Slack have famously adopted writing-as-thinking to communicate and gain buy-in.
Behind every product or feature you love, there was likely someone who could tell its story convincingly: why it needed to exist, who it was for, and how it would improve their lives.
The blank page feels intimidating, but if you can think, you can write. Writing is organized thinking—a way to structure ideas, work through problems, and arrive at better outcomes. As computer scientist Leslie Lamport puts it: “If you’re thinking without writing, you only think you’re thinking.” Reading anything—books, magazines, product docs—helps too.
Getting past common blockers
- You’re stuck in your head: Start by explaining your idea to someone out loud, or record yourself speaking. You’ll often find your verbal explanation is clearer than your first written draft.
- You’re saying everything at once: Focus on one core message. What’s the single most important thing your audience needs to understand?
- You’re not getting enough feedback: Share early drafts with colleagues. Even Figma’s most experienced engineers and designers regularly workshop ideas with others.
Reading widely also helps. Magazines, cereal boxes, long Reddit threads—whatever you can find. Natural exposure to different writing styles builds instincts you can call on later.
How to grab attention immediately
Content is everywhere, and AI has accelerated the flood. To break through the noise, stop asking “What do I want to say?” and start asking “What does my audience need to understand?”
That shift changes how pieces open. As Verlyn Klinkenborg writes, begin a piece rather than merely introducing it. Your first sentence should raise questions the next one answers, creating a chain of curiosity. One of the best editing tricks: delete your first paragraph. It’s often just warming up—the real story starts later.
When Figma’s engineering team wrote about horizontal sharding their Postgres stack, they didn’t lead with background. They opened with a specific detail: the database stack had grown almost 100x since 2020. Then the stakes: it’s a good problem, but it poses tricky challenges. The post explains not just the technical implementation, but what it enables for users.
Making complexity approachable
Figma frequently covers technical topics like server-side sandboxing or grotesque typography. The goal is to make such subjects accessible without dumbing them down. Specific examples outperform abstract jargon. When explaining typeface design, instead of discussing theory, the writer points to a capital R with a nonfunctional kink in the bottom leg—common in sans serifs like Helvetica—and shows how removing it embodies simplicity in action.
These tangible details transform abstract concepts into visible stories. Metaphors and analogies help too, as do definitions, marginalia, and hyperlinks for readers who want more depth. Occasionally, an article is the reader’s entry point into a topic. Sometimes the writer is also encountering the subject for the first time—and embracing that outsider perspective helps surface fundamental questions a specialist would never think to ask.
A structure that guides, not constrains
Good writing needs clear organization based on hierarchy and flow. Start with questions: What does the reader need to know first? What follows naturally from that? Group related ideas and make relationships between sections explicit.
Principles that work well:
- Use clear signposts: Headers and subheads navigate readers the way labels navigate an interface.
- Build logical flow: Each paragraph should lead into the next.
- Keep ideas focused: One main point per section.
- Create rhythm: Vary sentence and paragraph length.
Structure isn’t just organization—it’s how you make ideas understandable and genuinely engaging.
From thinking to shipping
The root of the word essay comes from the French essayer, meaning “to try.” Like design, writing is inherently iterative. Rarely do you hit the right structure—or fully understand what you want to say—on the first attempt. Feedback and revision form a cycle that makes each draft less painful because you know every pass brings it closer.
- Organize your thoughts: Map the key points you need to convey.
- Get it down: Write a rough version without self-editing.
- Step away: Give yourself time for perspective.
- Review and revise: Read aloud; notice where you stumble.
- Get feedback: Share with colleagues who stress-test your thinking.
- Revise again: Look at structure. Move paragraphs, cut extraneous prose. Zoom out before zooming in.
- Refine and polish: Finally, focus on clarity and flow. Is every sentence doing the most it can?
When polishing, be ruthless. Cut unnecessary adjectives, replace weak verbs, experiment with structure—sometimes your conclusion makes a better beginning. Always ask: would this make sense to someone who isn’t already an expert?
Everyone has ideas worth sharing and perspectives that can improve products. The world of product development has no shortage of challenges; what it needs is more thoughtful voices willing to write their thinking down. Good writing is just organized thinking. So, what's stopping you? Not the blank page. Not the competition. The blank page is just an ugly mess until you are willing to try. The next time you think, “I’m not a good writer,” remember that thought itself is evidence enough that you’re already thinking. And writing is thinking out loud, iteratively, until the idea finally takes clear shape.
