06-reference

Amazon Writing Style Tip #3 — jargon, acronyms, weasel words

2026-08-11·reference·status: filed·source: Write Like an Amazonian (published 2018), whiteboard photo shared by founder via iMessage 2026-08-11·by Amazon (internal writing-style guide, no individual author credited)
writingstyledocumentationcaf

Amazon Writing Style Tip #3

Founder-shared writing rules (whiteboard from "Write Like an Amazonian", 2018):

  1. Avoid jargon and acronyms — they exclude non-experts and newcomers.
  2. Always explain technical terms, acronyms, and abbreviations the first time they appear. Example: "After we sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)..."
  3. Weasel words are vague and create the impression of meaning — don't use them. Examples: "would help the solution", "might bring clarity", "should result in benefits", "significantly better", "arguably the best".

Why this is in the vault

The founder photographed and shared this whiteboard mid-pass on the Organizational Intelligence framework docs specifically because tips 2 and 3 (acronym expansion, weasel-word elimination) were failure modes he'd just caught in his own drafting for that phData deliverable — this is a working checklist he pulled into active use the same day, not a passive style-notes file.

Mapping against Ray Data Co

Both rules map directly onto the two RDCO surfaces where jargon/weasel-word drift is costliest: (1) phData client-facing docs (the Organizational Intelligence framework pages this tip was applied against — see Applied below) where an unexplained acronym or a hedge word like "should result in benefits" reads as unfinished thinking to a non-technical buyer; and (2) Sanity Check newsletter drafts, where draft-review already screens for weasel-word patterns as part of the craft check. This note is the source record for the acronym/weasel-word rules now codified as mechanics in [[WRITING-rdco]] (02-sops/WRITING-rdco.md), so future founder-facing doc passes (CAF/Organizational Intelligence decks, phData proposals, vault-write gates) should grep against this checklist rather than re-deriving it each time.

Applied

2026-08-11: swept the Organizational Intelligence framework pages (~/Documents/phdata-projects/caf/framework/, the 01–05 + A1–A3 set headed for the founder's Google Doc). Weasel words: zero hits. First-use acronym expansion: 5 gaps fixed (BLS, SOC, OEWS, COPQ, EOS — none were spelled out anywhere in the set). Expansion is per page, since each page ships as a standalone G Doc tab.

Standing use

Superseded as the working reference by the permanent contract [[WRITING-rdco]] (02-sops/WRITING-rdco.md), founder-directed 2026-08-11 — this note is the source record. Fold into any founder-facing doc pass: expand acronyms on first use per standalone document, and grep for the weasel-word patterns before delivery.

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