Defining a Powerful Purpose: Write Like a Developer

You’re reading an excerpt of Great Founders Write, by Ben Putano, writer, entrepreneur, and book publisher. He’s the founder of Damn Gravity Media, a publishing house that inspires and educates tomorrow’s great founders. Purchase now for lifetime access to the book and on-demand video course.

Sometimes you need your writing to resonate on a deeper level. You aren’t just firing off an email, but trying to convince a superstar designer to join your team. Or maybe you’re creating the landing page for a brand-new product that has the potential to triple your business.

When you need to define a deep, emotional purpose for your writing, don’t turn to visionary founders for inspiration. Talk to your software development team.

Software developers and product managers are masters of purpose-driven writing. They do it every day. You won’t find their work in Google Docs or on your blog, but in your task management system.

I’m talking about product user stories.

Before building a new feature, developers and product managers must explain why the feature should exist. User stories define a feature’s purpose, not just its function. Not doing this could cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, in wasted effort.

Here’s the standard template for a product user story:

As a [specific user], I want to [action] so that [definition of success] + [emotional and rational benefits].

For example:

As a shift manager [user], I want to see the time-off requests of all my employees at a glance [action] so that I can quickly create next week’s work schedule [success] without the stress and frustration of flipping back-and-forth between emails [benefits].

Notice what the user story doesn’t include: a description of the new feature. That’s because product managers (who often write the user stories) don’t want to prescribe what the engineers should build. Their job is to share the purpose of the project and let the developers come up with the best solution.

Product user stories teach us four rules about defining a powerful purpose:

• Address a specific person, not the general public.

• Focus on the person’s actions, not the features they’ll use.

• Share a clear definition of success.

• Describe emotional as well as rational benefits.

Remember: When you ask yourself, “Why am I writing this?” don’t just answer rationally. Search for an emotional reason why the reader should care.

You can use this user story template in all forms of writing. Let’s say you’re trying to recruit that superstar designer to your team. Your first answer to “Why am I writing this?” might be this:

Convince Chris Do to join our team as head of product design.

That’s just ok, but probably not enough to convince a world-class designer like Chris Do to join your team. You need a more powerful purpose.

Let’s use the product user story template and try again (we’ll switch the template to your perspective instead of the user’s perspective):

Why am I writing this?

Chris Do [user] will join our team as head of product design [action] so that he can design products that not only matter, but are wildly successful [success]. He will have the autonomy and support of a world-class team to bring his vision to life [emotional benefit] and could also earn significant upside in the business [rational benefit].

• Specific user: Chris Do

• Action: Join team as head of product design

• Success: Design products that not only matter, but are wildly successful

• Emotional benefit: Autonomy and world-class team to bring vision to life

• Rational benefit: Earn significant upside in the business

When developing your powerful purpose, details matter. Get specific with your reader’s actions, benefits, and definition of success. Spend more time than you think you need to define your purpose. Then watch your writing flow with energy and focus.

Founders write for many reasons, each of which requires a different approach. In the next few chapters, we’ll explore three specific purposes:

• Writing to inform

• Writing to sell

• Writing to teach and train

Let’s get into it.