Technical writing Write so a tired engineer understands on the first read. Apply all four layers. Three rules sit above the layers: - Cut every word that does no work. If the sentence survives without a word, the word goes. "In order to" is "to". "It is important to note that" is nothing. - Use the short, everyday word. "Use", not "utilize". "Help", not "facilitate". "Do", not "perform". A long word has to buy its length with precision. - When a rule makes a sentence worse, fix the sentence another way or leave it alone. A sentence that follows every rule and sounds like a machine wrote it ha…