The value of writing is 「a staple in」 management thinking. “The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen,” reckoned Lee Iacocca, a quotable titan of the American car industry. Jeff Bezos banned slide decks from meetings of senior Amazon executives back in 2004, in favour of well-structured memos. “PowerPoint-style presentations somehow give permission to gloss over ideas,” he wrote.

寫作的價(jià)值是管理思想中的「一個(gè)主要內(nèi)容」。美國汽車業(yè)的巨頭李-艾柯卡（Lee Iacocca）認(rèn)為："把事情寫下來的紀(jì)律是實(shí)現(xiàn)它的第一步"。杰夫-貝索斯（Jeff Bezos）早在2004年就禁止在亞馬遜高級(jí)管理人員的會(huì)議上使用幻燈片，而傾向于使用結(jié)構(gòu)良好的備忘錄。"他寫道："PowerPoint式的演講在某種程度上允許掩蓋觀點(diǎn)。

Some executives write for themselves. Andrew Bosworth, a bigwig at Meta (formerly Facebook), has a blog in which he muses interestingly on many topics, including on writing itself: “In my experience, discussion expands the space of possibilities while writing reduces it to its most essential components.” Others do so to reach an audience. Shareholder letters from Larry Fink and Warren Buffett are the corporate equivalent of a blockbuster book launch.

一些高管為自己寫作。安德魯-博斯沃思是Meta公司（前身為Facebook）的大人物，他有一個(gè)博客，其中他對許多話題進(jìn)行了有趣的思考，包括寫作本身。"根據(jù)我的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，討論擴(kuò)大了可能性的空間，而寫作則將其減少到最基本的組成部分"。其他人這樣做是為了接觸受眾。拉里-芬克和沃倫-巴菲特的股東信就相當(dāng)于公司的大片新書發(fā)布會(huì)。

But the move to remote working has enhanced the value of writing to the entire organisation, not just the corner office. When tasks 「are being handed off」 to colleagues in other locations, or people are working on a project “asynchronously”, meaning at a time of their choosing, comprehensive documentation is crucial. When new employees start work on something, they want the back story. When veterans depart an organisation, they should leave knowledge behind. Writing everything down sounds like 「an almighty pain」. But so is turning up to a meeting and not having the foggiest what was decided last time out.

但是，向遠(yuǎn)程工作的轉(zhuǎn)變提高了寫作對整個(gè)組織的價(jià)值，而不僅僅是角落里的辦公室。當(dāng)任務(wù)「被移交給」其他地方的同事，或者人們在一個(gè)項(xiàng)目上 "異步 "工作，即在他們選擇的時(shí)間，全面的文件是至關(guān)重要的。當(dāng)新員工開始工作的時(shí)候，他們希望了解背景故事。當(dāng)老員工離開一個(gè)組織時(shí)，他們應(yīng)該留下知識(shí)。把所有的東西都寫下來，聽起來是「一個(gè)巨大的痛苦」。但是，去參加一個(gè)會(huì)議，卻對上次的決定一無所知，也是如此。

Software developers have already worked out the value of the written word. A research programme from Google into the ingredients of successful technology projects found that teams with high-quality documentation deliver software faster and more reliably. Gitlab, a code-hosting platform whose workforce is wholly remote, frames the secret of successful asynchronous working thus: “How would I deliver this message, present this work, or move this project forward right now if no one else on my team (or in my company) were awake?” Gitlab’s answer is “textual communication”.** Its gospel** is a handbook that is publicly available, stretches to more than 3,000 pages and lays out all of its internal processes.

軟件開發(fā)人員已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了書面文字的價(jià)值。谷歌對成功技術(shù)項(xiàng)目的要素進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，擁有高質(zhì)量文檔的團(tuán)隊(duì)能更快、更可靠地交付軟件。Gitlab是一個(gè)代碼托管平臺(tái)，它的員工完全是遠(yuǎn)程的，它將成功的異步工作的秘密歸納為以下幾點(diǎn)。"如果我的團(tuán)隊(duì)（或我的公司）中沒有其他人醒著，我將如何傳遞這個(gè)信息，展示這項(xiàng)工作，或者現(xiàn)在就推進(jìn)這個(gè)項(xiàng)目？" Gitlab的答案是 "文本交流"。「它的福音」是一本公開的手冊，長達(dá)3,000多頁，列出了所有的內(nèi)部流程。

The deliberation and discipline required by writing is helpful in other contexts, too. “Brainwriting” is a brainstorming technique, used by Slack among others, in which participants are given time to put down their ideas before discussion begins. Lists of corporate values can make greeting cards seem 「hard-hitting」. But thoughtful codification of a firm’s culture makes more sense in hybrid and remote workplaces, where new joiners have less chance to meet and observe colleagues.

寫作所需的深思熟慮和紀(jì)律性在其他情況下也很有幫助。"Brainwriting "是一種頭腦風(fēng)暴技術(shù)，由Slack等公司使用，在討論開始之前，參與者有時(shí)間把他們的想法寫下來。企業(yè)價(jià)值觀的清單可以使賀卡看起來很有「沖擊力」。但是，在混合和遠(yuǎn)程工作場所，對公司文化進(jìn)行深思熟慮的編纂更有意義，因?yàn)樵谶@些地方，新加入的人沒有機(jī)會(huì)接觸和觀察同事。

Purists will sniff that none of this counts as writing. But good prose and useful prose share the same essential qualities: brevity, structure, a clear theme. Cormac McCarthy, a prize-winning novelist, copy-edits scientific papers for fun. Ted Chiang says that his science-fiction short stories and his technical writing both draw on a desire to explain an idea clearly.

純粹主義者會(huì)認(rèn)為這些都不能算作是寫作。但好的散文和有用的散文有相同的基本品質(zhì)：簡潔、結(jié)構(gòu)、明確的主題?？岂R克-麥卡錫（Cormac McCarthy）是一位獲獎(jiǎng)的小說家，他以編輯科學(xué)論文為樂。特德-蔣說，他的科幻短篇小說和他的技巧寫作都是基于他想要清楚地解釋一個(gè)想法。

Writing is not always the best way to communicate in the workplace. Video is more 「memorable」; a phone call is quicker; even PowerPoint has its place. But for the structured thought it demands, and the ease with which it can be shared and edited, the written word is made for remote work.

寫作并不總是工作場所中的最佳溝通方式。視頻更「令人難忘」；電話更快捷；甚至PowerPoint也有它的位置。但是，由于它所要求的結(jié)構(gòu)化思考，以及它可以被分享和編輯的便利性，書面文字是為遠(yuǎn)程工作而生的。