写作与思考2022paulgraham.com编辑精选
把想法落实到文字
Putting Ideas into Words
导读
Paul Graham 这篇随笔谈的是：把想法写成文字并不是把已经想好的东西誊抄出来，写作本身就是思考的延续，很多想法只有在落笔时才真正成形，也才暴露出漏洞。值得写作者读，是因为它把“读者意识”讲得很具体：你会发现自己以为说清楚了的地方，其实只有你自己懂。评论区则补充了几个很有用的反驳和实操经验。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
把想法写出来本身就是思考的一部分：写不顺、说不清，往往意味着还没想清楚，先动笔再想。
- 02
不要想象一个抽象的“普通读者”，而要想象一个具体的、不熟悉你领域的熟人，问自己“他读到这段会怎么想”。
- 03
时刻警惕“知识的诅咒”：你熟悉的概念对读者可能是黑箱，必要时补一句背景或一个例子，否则聪明读者也只会说“我还是不懂”。
- 04
重要决策先写 2-4 页备忘录（把背景、权衡、已排除的方案讲清楚），再开会讨论，别用粗制滥造的幻灯片糊弄过去。
HN 评论精选
“写给别人看”的压力会逼你把问题想清楚，哪怕这封信最后根本不发出去。
在小尺度上，这正是为什么我卡在一个开发问题（难缠的 bug 或敲定设计）时，给同事写一封详尽的邮件常常带来突破：因为占用别人的时间和精力，会逼你把背景交代到恰到好处，把各种权衡和已考虑过的方案都走一遍。而这封邮件最后没发出去一点也不罕见——我和最亲近的同事常说：“我搞不定 XYZ，就给你写了封长邮件，结果问题解决了，邮件也删了。”（副作用是：经历过几次之后，别人写得稀烂的问题报告会让你抓狂。）
dbrueck查看英文原文
On a small scale, this is exactly why when I'm stuck on a development problem (an elusive bug or trying to hammer out a good design), a thorough email about it to a colleague often provides the breakthrough. Because you're taking up a co-worker's time & energy, it motivates you to lay out the problem with the right amount of context, walk through some of the tradeoffs or things you've considered, etc. And it's not unusual at all for the email to never get sent - among my closest co-workers we'll often tell each other something like, "I couldn't figure out how to fix XYZ so I wrote you a long email about it, fixed the problem, and deleted the email". (the downside is that once you've experienced this a few times, crummy problem reports from others kind of drive you crazy)
在远程协作中，文字就是别人眼中的你，写作是工程师的主要工作形式，值得用备忘录替代草率幻灯片。
我觉得这篇比 PG 之前那篇《写得简单》好得多，虽然并不完全同意（比如 jasode 的评论）。工作中我一直想推行一个习惯：传达关键决策时写一份 2-4 页的“备忘录”，但很难根除那种冲动——凑一版思路破碎的粗糙幻灯片，然后在会上匆匆过一遍。全员远程时，不管你愿不愿意，人们就是靠你的文字来评判你。而不写代码的时候，你做的大部分事都是写作：设计文档、预算提案、commit message、功能需求、使用指南、调查报告、把复杂讨论帖综合成有用的摘要、技术演示、邮件、即时聊天。扎实的写作能力还让你能有分寸地“捍卫”自己的论点，也能体面地让步。
kashyapc查看英文原文
I find this much better than PG's previous essay, "write simply"[1], even if I don't agree with all of it (e.g. see jasode's comment[2]). Meanwhile, at work I've been trying to encourage the habit of writing a 2-4 page "memo" when conveying critical decisions. It's proving difficult to root out the impulsive habit of "let's put together a shoddy slide deck with broken thoughts, and hurry through it on a call". When we're all remote, whether you like it or not, people will judge you by your words. And when you're not writing code, most of what you do is writing: design documents, proposals for budget, Git commit messages, feature requests, usage guides, investigative reports, synthesizing complex discussion threads into useful summaries, technical presentations, email, and synchronous chat. Not least of all, robust writing skills allow you to "defend" your arguments with nuance and concede with grace. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26427773 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30314144
“假装自己是陌生读者”有上限：知识的诅咒无法完全摆脱，作者自觉清楚并不等于读者能懂。
我不同意“只要努力，你就能像完全陌生的人一样读自己的文章”，因为存在“知识的诅咒”。各种试图解释 monad、web3、Kubernetes 的文章，仍然会让许多聪明读者喊“我还是不懂”。PG 自己的文章（比如讲财富不平等那篇）在 HN 的讨论里也被误读过。
jasode查看英文原文
>You have to pretend to be a neutral reader who knows nothing of what's in your head, only what you wrote. [...] If you make an effort, you can read your writing as if you were a complete stranger, and when you do the news is usually bad. Disagree on that because of The Curse of Knowledge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge The various attempts at explaining "monads", "web3", "Kubernetes", etc will still leave many smart readers exclaiming "I still don't get it." PG's own essays (e.g. wealth inequality) have been misinterpreted in HN threads.
与其假装是抽象陌生人，不如想象一个具体的熟人读者；写作的价值在于把稍纵即逝的语言变成可以雕刻、可反复推敲的东西。
作为写作者我很有共鸣，但有些地方和我的经验不符。“只要努力，你就能像完全陌生的人一样读自己的文章”——某种程度可以，我能采取更客观的视角，但并没有一个“柏拉图式的陌生人”可供挑选，每个人都有自己的背景和需求。我改用的办法是具体想象我认识的、但不算亲密朋友的人：“如果是 X 读到这段，她会怎么想？”至于“如果他不满意是因为你没提到 x，或者某句限定得不够，那就补上 x 或加更多限定”——这个游戏是无止境的，永远有挑刺的人（正是在下）。我尽量说到足以表明我懂自己在说什么，再往下就会把真正想表达的更大要点憋死。对我来说，真正的价值在于写作让语言几乎变得有形：说话时瞬间消失的东西，变成了你可以触摸、雕刻、重排的东西；你被迫与它的形式较劲，逐字逐句地想“这真是我想说的吗？这真是我该这么说的方法吗？”
akprasad查看英文原文
As someone who writes, I can relate to a lot of this, but there are aspects that aren't true to my experience. > If you make an effort, you can read your writing as if you were a complete stranger Somewhat. Through effort I can take on a more objective perspective, but there is no platonic stranger I could pick out. Everyone has his own context and his own needs. What I try to do instead is visualize people I know who are not close friends. I think "What would X think if she were reading this?" > If he's not satisfied because you failed to mention x or didn't qualify some sentence sufficiently, then you mention x or add more qualifications I think this game is endless. There will always be a nitpicker (Hello!). I try to say enough to show that I know what I'm talking about, but beyond that I find that it chokes the broader point that I want to make. ~ For me, the real value is that writing makes language almost physical. What would normally vanish in a moment in speech becomes something you can touch, sculpt, and rearrange. And in doing so you're forced to contend with the form of it and really think through every word, and every train of thought ("Is this really what I want to say? Is this really how I should say it?"). I think this can be done in speech as well if you're in a true debate with someone who cares about language, but it's much harder. And depending on your temperament, there's a "those who can't do teach" problem where writing about something makes you feel like an expert on it. As always, the important thing is to act.
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