How Success is Written
Today's most successful tech companies are using writing to fuel innovation and growth. Learn from 14 leaders about writing culture, scaling asynchronously, and more.
Chapter 1
Writing helps define culture for asynchronous workplaces
GitLab
Writing offers a single source of truth
GitLab’s emphasis on documentation and a strong writing culture leads to a single source of truth for information and strong operational efficiency.
Head of Remote
Doist
Writing democratizes communication
Reliance on asynchronous communication gives Doist a competitive advantage by having a culture where everyone is enabled to contribute.
Senior Marketing Manager of Content
Sourcegraph
Replacing the water-cooler
As an early remote leader, Sourcegraph thrives on heads-down, autonomous work—enabled by transparency and a well-documented handbook.
Co-Founder & CTO
Hootsuite
Rewriting the rules of collaboration
Hootsuite provides clear processes and tools to support a hybrid work model—laying down a strong foundation for knowledge-sharing.
Senior Manager of Internal Communications
Chapter 2
Writing enables sound decision-making
Lattice
Writing provides context
Healthy information flow leads to better decision making. For Lattice, information flow comes from effective writing over tribal knowledge.
Chief of Staff
Ramp
Writing facilitates honest feedback
Startups build a collective memory bank by writing things down. Ramp uses silent meetings and writing to make gatherings more effective and valuable.
VP Business & Revenue Operations
Uber
Knowledge sharing helps everyone do their jobs better
Uber mobilizes both engineers and managers to set the tone and be the stewards of writing.
Technical Writer, Manager
Chapter 3
Writing helps companies scale
Glossier
Writing is the backbone of a solid product strategy
The product development process always starts with writing at Glossier—focusing the work on customers.
Principal Site Reliability Engineer
Superhuman
Writing strengthens company values
Superhuman employees support each other by documenting processes, making it easy to access information and empowering people to do their best.
Content Lead
Loom
Writing provides meaning and purpose to company strategy
Writing is a tool of empowerment, allowing Loom to build and function at a high level across time zones.
Co-Founder & CTO
Shopify
Writing aligns rapidly expanding companies
Good, clear writing allows Shopify to pursue its mantra of being highly aligned, loosely coupled.
Editor In Chief
Chapter 4
Strong writing culture starts at the top
Help Scout
Leaders set the tone
Clear, concise writing helps domain experts and specialists at Help Scout demonstrate mastery and share knowledge for others to benefit from.
Senior People Business Partner
Stripe
The best way to encourage proficient writing is to demonstrate it
At Stripe, writing is the default method of sharing—from carefully-crafted emails to clear proposals.
Head of Docs
HashiCorp
Lead by example with great writing
Important decisions aren’t accepted unless written down at HashiCorp, where employees follow a clear writing process: research, write, and get feedback.
Chief of Staff
