Writing for Thinking
"You could read things and that's helpful, but I don't think that reading makes you necessarily think better. It makes you more wise, but the best way to increase your capacity to think is to actually do the thinking. And so that's where I see writing. If you're able to write things clearly, you're able to think through things clearly." - Geoff Charles
What It Is
Writing for Thinking is the practice of using writing as a tool for developing and clarifying your own ideas, rather than just communicating ideas you've already formed. The insight is that reading provides wisdom (other people's thinking), but writing develops your own capacity to think through novel problems.
For leaders at high-growth companies, many problems don't have Google-able answers. Questions like "How do we scale decision-making?", "How do we incentivize teams to work together?", or "How do we avoid politics as first-hand data goes away?" require original thinking. Writing forces you to confront the edges of your understanding.
The process is simple: shut down your laptop, take out paper, write the question clearly at the top, and spend time thinking about how to answer it. Only after developing your own thinking should you read what others have written.
How It Works
The sequence matters:
- Identify the question - Write it as simply as possible at the top of the paper
- Think - Work through the problem on your own
- Write - Capture your thinking, which reveals gaps and forces clarity
- Read - Only now, look at what others have said
- Refine - Fine-tune your thinking and identify new questions
Why writing first:
- Reading first gives you other people's answers before you've formed your own questions
- Writing reveals where your thinking is fuzzy
- The struggle of articulating an idea sharpens the idea itself
The unique questions Geoff tackled this way:
- How do we scale decision making?
- How do we incentivize teams to work together?
- How do we do headcount planning?
- How do we allocate headcount in a fair way?
- How do we avoid politics as firsthand data goes away?
- How do we make decisions on doubling down versus pivoting?
How to Apply It
1. Create protected time Block time for deep work. "I would look at the next week, I would look at the top questions that I needed to spend time thinking about, and I would block out that time."
2. Go analog "Shut down your laptop, take out a piece of paper, write the question as simply as possible at the top of the paper, and just spend time just thinking about how to answer that question."
3. Find your thinking environment Geoff works outside, hanging out and doodling. "It doesn't feel like work. It feels like just me just philosophizing about something."
4. Use weekends strategically "I also work on one day of the weekend in terms of deep work." Early mornings, late afternoons, or weekend time when you're not in the critical path of anything.
5. Only then, read "After you thought through it, then go out and read and you'll fine-tune your thinking and you'll identify new questions to ask yourself afterwards."
When to Use It
- When facing novel problems without precedent in your experience
- When preparing for important decisions
- When you're consuming a lot but not producing clarity
- When building thought leadership or developing your point of view
- When you're stuck on a problem and need to break through
The Additional Benefits
Beyond thinking, writing creates leverage:
- Communication - Clear thinking becomes clear communication
- Brand building - External writing attracts better talent
- Async effectiveness - During COVID, Ramp "largely grew up during COVID, where everything was written"
Source
- Guest: Geoff Charles
- Episode: "Velocity over everything: How Ramp became the fastest-growing SaaS startup ever | Geoff Charles"
- Key Discussion: (00:49:25) - Explanation of writing practice and benefits
- YouTube: Watch on YouTube
Related Frameworks
- Processing Over Memory - Task management philosophy that complements writing for thinking