August 8, 2023 • 20 mins
Based on time-honored press printing journalism practices, the LEDE editing code is all about getting straight to the point—ensuring your audience instantly knows whether an article is relevant to them.
In the intense competition for online eyeballs, you need to captivate your readers right from the very first sentence. Today, OSPeas Carl, jam, Felicity, Chris, and Christine, explain the LEDE editing code, and how we try to keep your readers hooked from the start.
Building a bridge between writer and reader, a strong lede can simplify the reading process, reducing cognitive load and capturing your readers' attention.
In this conversation, we'll explore how you can craft engaging ledes that hit home right from the start, whether you're writing a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire article. We also reflect on the importance of mindful communication in fostering a positive and human-centered culture in the workplace.
Welcome to the Open Strategy Partners podcast, "Communicate, Connect, Grow!" At Open Strategy Partners, we specialize in strategic product communication. We help you communicate the value of what you do, connect you with the people who need to know about it, and grow.
To get in touch with us, follow what we’re doing, or learn about our Writer Enablement Workshops, you can:
- Go to our website
- Email us at hello@openstrategypartners.com
- Hit us up on Twitter
- Subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carl Richards (00:07):
Hi, i'm Carl from OSP and this is Communicate
Connect Grow, the OSP podcast.
On today's episode, we'retalking about not burying the
lede in your writing with theediting code LEDE.
If you want to be a moreeffective writer, a more
transparent editor, developclear strategic thinking or
learn from our network of expertfriends and colleagues, that's
(00:30):
what we're here for.
We divide our episodes acrossthree themes Communicate,
connect and Grow.
This is a Communicate episodeand we're talking about putting
your main point up front withour editorial code LEDE.
The LEDE editing code fallsinto the scope and narrative
(01:03):
structure phase of the editingprocess and it's about putting
your main point up front in yourwriting.
In our documentation about thiscode, it says don't bury the
lede in the article or even in asentence.
Felicity Brand (01:16):
Hi, i'm Felicity Brandt.
I work as a communicationsconsultant at OSP.
I do a lot of writing andtechnical editing and I love
thinking and talking and writingabout writing and words.
Chris Fenwick (01:30):
Hi, I'm Chris Fenwick.
I'm a communications consultantat OSP, which basically means
that I handle copywriting andediting.
It's my main activities.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (01:42):
Hi, i'm Jeffrey McGuire.
Most people call me Jam.
I co-founded OSP and this crazyidea of the editing codes was
not really my idea, but it wassomeone else's idea about how to
unpick the crazy tornado goingon in my brain when I edit
documents.
Christine Buehler (01:59):
I'm Christine Bueller and I'm a
communications consultant atOpen Strategy Partners.
I work on productcommunications and strategy for
mostly tech companies.
Felicity Brand (02:13):
So the editing code LEDE is about putting your
main point up front.
Don't bury your lede.
Some people trip up over thespelling of lede.
It's an intentional misspellingand I found a great article
researching the history of themisspelling of the word lede
which we can link to in our shownotes.
(02:33):
Basically, it's a nod back toold press printing journalism
where they traditionallystructure their stories like an
inverted pyramid.
So the main point is at the top.
You put that right at the startof what you're writing about
and they misspelled the word sothat the printing presses would
know that to recognise it whenit came up.
(02:55):
One thing that occurs to meabout the way we misspell lede
as our editing code is that itis in direct contravention of a
couple of our other editingcodes, like Clear and Buzz.
Check out those other episodesbecause it's jargon and it's
slang and it's really not clear.
But just roll with us on thisbecause it has a history and
(03:19):
putting your main point up frontcan seem like a spoiler, but
it's not.
Whether you're educating orpersuading or trying to convert
your reader, you need to letthem self-select.
Is this relevant to me?
when they start reading Andthey need to get that in the
first one or two sentences oreven in the title.
(03:40):
So don't be afraid that you'reshowing your hand too early
because you really want to.
If you're going to engage yourreader, you need to tell them
what they're engaging with rightat the start.
Chris Fenwick (03:52):
As I understand it, it just means that you have
to put the most importantelement first, and this can be
in a paragraph or also in asentence.
So if you're writing about aparticular company, then ideally
their name should be at thebeginning of the first paragraph
(04:12):
and the first sentence, ratherthan some sort of other preamble
, and then you get around tothem.
I mean, that might work nicelyin narrative literature, but for
case studies, blogs, b2bmarketing, it's not necessarily
about trying to sort of set thescene and then chant the reader
(04:34):
like this.
It's instead about trying tofront load the most important
information and make the text aseasy to follow as possible.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (04:43):
One term that I have found myself using a
lot this year isself-qualification.
By that I mean several things.
I think it's kind of a way torespect our audience.
If I'm writing somethingdirected at a particular
audience who I think is facing aparticular challenge in their
(05:03):
kind of business, i want to tellthem the summary of the next
thousand words so that they candecide whether they care enough,
whether it's potentiallyimportant enough to them to
spend the five or ten minutesreading it.
And in the digital world thistranslates to what shows up in
search engine results, whatshows up in teasers, giving
(05:27):
someone else an easy summary touse somewhere else.
So front loading all theimportant information,
expressing somehow who thetarget audience is, what, the
challenges that we're addressing, hopefully, the benefits that
they can get out of reading oradopting the solution, or
whatever all of that shouldreally be in the first three or
four sentences.
(05:47):
I love how you talked aboutenchanting introductions and all
that, and it's so nice andsweet and beautiful to read
three or four paragraphs to getto that crunchy point.
But when I was figuring all ofthis out for myself years ago,
when I started writingprofessionally regularly, i
started to understand that forme, it was the fourth or the
(06:08):
fifth paragraph that I wouldwrite.
if I were just writing,naturally, that fourth or fifth
paragraph, that's the stuff thatactually matters, and I would
start to put it right on top.
Christine Buehler (06:18):
So the editing code LEDE is pretty
straightforward.
It just means don't bury thelede, which means at the
beginning of an article, at thebeginning of a paragraph, at the
beginning of a sentence.
Make sure you're being veryclear about what your point is
and what you want the reader totake away from your article.
Carl Richards (06:44):
Let's explore how you use this code as an editor.
Felicity Brand (06:47):
When I'm editing a piece, this code is about
looking at lede placement.
So first I need to make sure wehave a lede, then I'm seeing
where it is.
So it doesn't always have to bethe very, very first sentence,
particularly if you have a greattitle.
Some ledes work quite well asthe final sentence to a short
(07:07):
opening paragraph, but usuallyI'm looking at context and the
brief and ensuring that wehaven't buried anything
important.
Often in these editing codeepisodes I talk about or I think
about long form content, butthe LEDE code applies not just
for an entire piece but in asentence, so you can bury the
(07:27):
lede in a sentence.
So when I'm editing, that'sjust about looking at the
opportunity to move phrasesaround, bringing things into the
light so that they're noteasily missed.
In usability studies, whenpeople do eye tracking research,
they look at how readers eyestravel on a page.
One of the common patterns thatemerged is this capital F, so
(07:48):
it's called an F-shaped patternof reading, and what that means
is the reader will scan the texton the page in the shape of a
little letter F, so they goacross and then down.
And because English is aleft-to-right reading language,
if you have your lede buried ina sentence.
It will fall on the right-handside of the page, so if a reader
(08:09):
is scanning down the left, youreally want your lede to popping
out at them at the start of asentence.
Chris Fenwick (08:15):
I think there's maybe two ways in which it plays
a role.
There's kind of the paragraph orpiece structure level, and then
there's the sentence structurelevel.
In terms of the sentence, ifthere's too much other
information that's getting inthe way before you get to the
main subject or the main verb ofthe sentence, then definitely
(08:37):
it needs to be applied there andthe sentence needs to be
rewritten and things have to bemoved around, just to make
things slightly easier to follow, at least for this kind of
writing.
And in terms of the structureof the piece, which is maybe
where it's more important, youhave to be aware of who the
audience is, what kind ofattention they're going to be
(08:58):
paying, what it is that theywant to hear about, and then
make sure that all the salientpoints are put up front, often
with a kind of advancedorganization where the first
paragraph will also anticipatethe next couple and tell you
what it is that the rest of thepiece is going to say.
And, of course, if that'sabsent, then that's definitely
something that needs to be dealtwith when editing.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (09:20):
When I'm editing something and I am
oriented enough to know whatneeds to happen, i essentially
read that and then I look at therest of the piece and I see if
that is a nice roadmap to therest of it and I find myself
It's something, i think, thatgets tweaked the most.
I think and I'm always gratefulfor it when somebody helps me
(09:43):
clarify that as well It's atricky little thing to get right
.
Just want to point out onceagain this is extremely
important for our professionalkind of writing and it doesn't
necessarily apply when you writea letter to your parents or
something as an editor, i alwaysgo straight for the beginning
(10:04):
of an article when I'm startingto edit.
Christine Buehler (10:08):
LEDE is a really useful editing code as an
editor because it just makessure that I look at the
beginning of every paragraph, atthe beginning of every article
and just like saying do Iunderstand what is being said
here and Is the reader by proxygoing to understand as well?
Carl Richards (10:32):
As a writer.
How do you approach this code?
Felicity Brand (10:35):
Okay, thinking about the LEDE editing code as a
writer.
So I guess my advice to otherwriters is don't sweat it at the
start.
So at OSP we work with acontent brief and the content
brief outlines the thesis forwhat we're about to write.
So when I'm writing I will justplonk that thesis down as the
(10:56):
very first sentence in my pieceWhich is probably clunky, you
know it's.
It's often not worded amazingly, but it but it does capture the
thesis.
So I will plonk that as myfirst sentence and then I will
write the piece and then rightat the end I'll come back and
finesse the lede to get thephrasing right, to keep it
simple and brief.
But generally I can't nail thatlede right when I sit down to
(11:20):
start to write.
Sometimes it can feel abrupt tojust launch straight in with
your lede, but so it can.
It can be tempting to startwith background and context and
really kind of work your way upto something, but readers don't
have time for that, so don'tkeep it a mystery.
What's your point, what's yourstance, what's your opinion?
(11:41):
What is this piece about?
We really want to lay it outright at the start.
The other thing I just wanted tomention is sometimes for a
long-form piece, we might have atitle in the form of a question
.
So if you do ask a question inthe title, you should answer it
in the subtitle or at least veryearly on.
You don't want to leave it tillthe summary to answer that
(12:01):
question that you've asked,because readers don't have time
for that.
If your title is a questionlike Should we move to X product
, you should answer thatstraight away in the subtitle or
the intro with We think so, andhere are the reasons why, just
so that the audience, the reader, is in no doubt about what
they're about to embark uponWhen they're reading again.
Chris Fenwick (12:24):
I think it's one of these things that you tend to
internalize after a while ifyou're used to kind of writing
in a particular style.
But definitely it's sometimes athing where you reorganize what
you've written with it in mind,you realize that you've written
one paragraph that actuallymakes sense.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (12:43):
Going further up, I don't think I've
Properly ever internalized thiscreation of the lede.
I Definitely don't get thefirst paragraph right as the
first thing I write.
At OSP We use some templates tofill in what we call content
briefs so that we have an ideaof who, who the audience is,
what we're writing about and Andso on, so we can have a sort of
(13:04):
an editorial checklist, makesure everything's covered and
and so on.
That can give us a good idea ofwhat the article is about.
And in the end I Usually writesomething.
And then I write the wholearticle and by the time I'm five
, six hundred, a thousand wordsin and I get to the conclusion,
like the last Paragraph, wherein our style of business writing
(13:25):
, we generally so we told youabout this and if you want to
have this benefit, why don't youtry out that and push them
towards the call to action?
when I get that just about right, i find myself then, you know,
quickly comparing the structureof the article to that and
Looking at all of it, and then Iwrite the lede that I actually
got miss like, because in thatmoment I've gotten all the way
(13:48):
down the path to where thearticle is composed and
structured where I want it andthen Then I can sort of put that
cherry on top of it as a writer, I really like the LEDE editing
code because it's just aconstant reminder to be
straightforward at that phase ofthe writing process you don't
(14:09):
need to be like fancy orparticularly clever, it's really
just a Common sense, back tobasics Reminder, and I think
that's really important when itcomes to clear product
communications, which is whatwe're trying to do at Open
Strategy Partners.
Carl Richards (14:30):
For the reader to have a great experience.
Here's why this editing code isextremely important.
Felicity Brand (14:35):
So LEDE is about respecting your audience, their
time and attention.
So there's so much content outthere.
We know that, and knowing whatyou're jumping into makes you
feel confident and comfortable.
So putting the lede at thefront is a kindly act for your
reader Because it allows them toskim read.
Basically, if you've got agreat title, lots of subheadings
(14:56):
, nicely chunked blocks of textand all of those sentences have
great ledes, the reader canquickly consume your piece.
When I'm reading, i'm lazy, idon't don't make me work hard,
just just tell me and then, ifthere's more detail, i will dive
into that.
That's what LEDE is about forme.
Chris Fenwick (15:13):
In general it makes the piece easier to read.
It lowers the sort ofresistance Cognitive load for
the the reader that they have toface.
So, if they are just sort of, ifeverything is put it, if the
information is presented in alogical order, they have all the
context that they need to makesense of everything else that
comes after, whereas if you'retelling them something and then
(15:35):
they don't yet necessarily knowwhat area the company works in,
for example, then if you do, ifthat's necessary to know and
it's not being made clear yet,then they'll be confused until
they read on a bit further.
So again, it's more aboutReducing the cognitive load for
the reader.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (15:53):
Oh, that's a terrific point.
A lot of functional writing hasEcology behind it and I want to
believe that we use thosepsychological principles polls
for good.
So in this case, yeah, reducingsomeone's cognitive load,
helping them get tounderstanding is this right for
me?
Do I need this?
can this help me?
(16:13):
I think that's a great reasonto do it and on a practical
level, as still as the consumer,still as the reader, if the
search engine takes the firstparagraph as the results
description, or it takes themeta description, or Whether it
generates its own, which it'sstarting to do now.
If it generates its own, we'rekind of out of luck as creators.
But otherwise, when we look atour first paragraphs and our
(16:35):
metadata as a consumer, then Ihave this.
I have this chance to get aquick picture of where I am and
and decide if I need to, if Ineed to Take my time for this or
not.
Christine Buehler (16:45):
I think that The LEDE editing code is
important as a reader, becauseyou know right away if the
article is relevant to you ornot.
Or you should just by readingthe very first paragraph.
As you keep reading, hopefullybecause the article is relevant
to you, each following paragraphwill keep just presenting the
(17:09):
lede in a straightforward way,so you always know where you're
at and where you're going.
Carl Richards (17:30):
I hope you, dear listener, caught our lede right
at the start and knew exactlywhat you were in for.
Next time you start creating apiece of content, put your main
points first and let the restfollow.
Share your examples orquestions with us via Twitter at
open underscore strategy, oremail hello at
openstrategypartnerscom.
(17:51):
Next time you're writing, bemindful of word choices that
contain references to time.
Oh, and speaking of time,yesterday I bought six watches.
You could say I have a lot oftime on my hands.
How do you use date in yourwriting?
Share your examples orquestioner at open underscore
(18:13):
strategy or email.
Hello at open strategy partners.
This was one of the editorialcodes we use at OSP.
If you'd like to learn more inthe meantime, come on over to
openstrategypartnerscom, have alook on our writer enablement
workshop case study offering orget in touch to talk about your
product communication needs.
(18:34):
Thanks to who contributed tothis podcast all the P's at OSP.
To our clients who beliefsshout out.
To Patrick Gaumont for our highenergy maple syrup flavored
theme music and to Mike Snow foradditional horn arrangements.
Thank you for listening andsubscribing About our three
themes on the podcast.
(18:55):
You'll hear different membersof the OSP team hosting episodes
over time.
Communicate all things.
Communication, or how we tacklewriting, editing, word choices,
formats, processes and more.
Connect in-depth conversationswith interesting, smart people,
who they are, what they do andhow they approach their life and
(19:17):
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Grow cover approaches tounderstanding and expressing the
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We also feel strongly aboutbuilding a mindful, positive,
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That's bound to pop up fromtime to time too.
This podcast is us figuring outcommunication connection and
(19:43):
together.
Subscribe now on YouTube, applepod, the podcast channel of
your choice.
Thank you.
Hi, i'm Carl from OSP and this is Communicate
Connect Grow, the OSP podcast.
On today's episode, we'retalking about not burying the
lede in your writing with theediting code LEDE.
If you want to be a moreeffective writer, a more
transparent editor, developclear strategic thinking or
learn from our network of expertfriends and colleagues, that's
(00:30):
what we're here for.
We divide our episodes acrossthree themes Communicate,
connect and Grow.
This is a Communicate episodeand we're talking about putting
your main point up front withour editorial code LEDE.
The LEDE editing code fallsinto the scope and narrative
(01:03):
structure phase of the editingprocess and it's about putting
your main point up front in yourwriting.
In our documentation about thiscode, it says don't bury the
lede in the article or even in asentence.
Felicity Brand (01:16):
Hi, i'm Felicity Brandt.
I work as a communicationsconsultant at OSP.
I do a lot of writing andtechnical editing and I love
thinking and talking and writingabout writing and words.
Chris Fenwick (01:30):
Hi, I'm Chris Fenwick.
I'm a communications consultantat OSP, which basically means
that I handle copywriting andediting.
It's my main activities.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (01:42):
Hi, i'm Jeffrey McGuire.
Most people call me Jam.
I co-founded OSP and this crazyidea of the editing codes was
not really my idea, but it wassomeone else's idea about how to
unpick the crazy tornado goingon in my brain when I edit
documents.
Christine Buehler (01:59):
I'm Christine Bueller and I'm a
communications consultant atOpen Strategy Partners.
I work on productcommunications and strategy for
mostly tech companies.
Felicity Brand (02:13):
So the editing code LEDE is about putting your
main point up front.
Don't bury your lede.
Some people trip up over thespelling of lede.
It's an intentional misspellingand I found a great article
researching the history of themisspelling of the word lede
which we can link to in our shownotes.
(02:33):
Basically, it's a nod back toold press printing journalism
where they traditionallystructure their stories like an
inverted pyramid.
So the main point is at the top.
You put that right at the startof what you're writing about
and they misspelled the word sothat the printing presses would
know that to recognise it whenit came up.
(02:55):
One thing that occurs to meabout the way we misspell lede
as our editing code is that itis in direct contravention of a
couple of our other editingcodes, like Clear and Buzz.
Check out those other episodesbecause it's jargon and it's
slang and it's really not clear.
But just roll with us on thisbecause it has a history and
(03:19):
putting your main point up frontcan seem like a spoiler, but
it's not.
Whether you're educating orpersuading or trying to convert
your reader, you need to letthem self-select.
Is this relevant to me?
when they start reading Andthey need to get that in the
first one or two sentences oreven in the title.
(03:40):
So don't be afraid that you'reshowing your hand too early
because you really want to.
If you're going to engage yourreader, you need to tell them
what they're engaging with rightat the start.
Chris Fenwick (03:52):
As I understand it, it just means that you have
to put the most importantelement first, and this can be
in a paragraph or also in asentence.
So if you're writing about aparticular company, then ideally
their name should be at thebeginning of the first paragraph
(04:12):
and the first sentence, ratherthan some sort of other preamble
, and then you get around tothem.
I mean, that might work nicelyin narrative literature, but for
case studies, blogs, b2bmarketing, it's not necessarily
about trying to sort of set thescene and then chant the reader
(04:34):
like this.
It's instead about trying tofront load the most important
information and make the text aseasy to follow as possible.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (04:43):
One term that I have found myself using a
lot this year isself-qualification.
By that I mean several things.
I think it's kind of a way torespect our audience.
If I'm writing somethingdirected at a particular
audience who I think is facing aparticular challenge in their
(05:03):
kind of business, i want to tellthem the summary of the next
thousand words so that they candecide whether they care enough,
whether it's potentiallyimportant enough to them to
spend the five or ten minutesreading it.
And in the digital world thistranslates to what shows up in
search engine results, whatshows up in teasers, giving
(05:27):
someone else an easy summary touse somewhere else.
So front loading all theimportant information,
expressing somehow who thetarget audience is, what, the
challenges that we're addressing, hopefully, the benefits that
they can get out of reading oradopting the solution, or
whatever all of that shouldreally be in the first three or
four sentences.
(05:47):
I love how you talked aboutenchanting introductions and all
that, and it's so nice andsweet and beautiful to read
three or four paragraphs to getto that crunchy point.
But when I was figuring all ofthis out for myself years ago,
when I started writingprofessionally regularly, i
started to understand that forme, it was the fourth or the
(06:08):
fifth paragraph that I wouldwrite.
if I were just writing,naturally, that fourth or fifth
paragraph, that's the stuff thatactually matters, and I would
start to put it right on top.
Christine Buehler (06:18):
So the editing code LEDE is pretty
straightforward.
It just means don't bury thelede, which means at the
beginning of an article, at thebeginning of a paragraph, at the
beginning of a sentence.
Make sure you're being veryclear about what your point is
and what you want the reader totake away from your article.
Carl Richards (06:44):
Let's explore how you use this code as an editor.
Felicity Brand (06:47):
When I'm editing a piece, this code is about
looking at lede placement.
So first I need to make sure wehave a lede, then I'm seeing
where it is.
So it doesn't always have to bethe very, very first sentence,
particularly if you have a greattitle.
Some ledes work quite well asthe final sentence to a short
(07:07):
opening paragraph, but usuallyI'm looking at context and the
brief and ensuring that wehaven't buried anything
important.
Often in these editing codeepisodes I talk about or I think
about long form content, butthe LEDE code applies not just
for an entire piece but in asentence, so you can bury the
(07:27):
lede in a sentence.
So when I'm editing, that'sjust about looking at the
opportunity to move phrasesaround, bringing things into the
light so that they're noteasily missed.
In usability studies, whenpeople do eye tracking research,
they look at how readers eyestravel on a page.
One of the common patterns thatemerged is this capital F, so
(07:48):
it's called an F-shaped patternof reading, and what that means
is the reader will scan the texton the page in the shape of a
little letter F, so they goacross and then down.
And because English is aleft-to-right reading language,
if you have your lede buried ina sentence.
It will fall on the right-handside of the page, so if a reader
(08:09):
is scanning down the left, youreally want your lede to popping
out at them at the start of asentence.
Chris Fenwick (08:15):
I think there's maybe two ways in which it plays
a role.
There's kind of the paragraph orpiece structure level, and then
there's the sentence structurelevel.
In terms of the sentence, ifthere's too much other
information that's getting inthe way before you get to the
main subject or the main verb ofthe sentence, then definitely
(08:37):
it needs to be applied there andthe sentence needs to be
rewritten and things have to bemoved around, just to make
things slightly easier to follow, at least for this kind of
writing.
And in terms of the structureof the piece, which is maybe
where it's more important, youhave to be aware of who the
audience is, what kind ofattention they're going to be
(08:58):
paying, what it is that theywant to hear about, and then
make sure that all the salientpoints are put up front, often
with a kind of advancedorganization where the first
paragraph will also anticipatethe next couple and tell you
what it is that the rest of thepiece is going to say.
And, of course, if that'sabsent, then that's definitely
something that needs to be dealtwith when editing.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (09:20):
When I'm editing something and I am
oriented enough to know whatneeds to happen, i essentially
read that and then I look at therest of the piece and I see if
that is a nice roadmap to therest of it and I find myself
It's something, i think, thatgets tweaked the most.
I think and I'm always gratefulfor it when somebody helps me
(09:43):
clarify that as well It's atricky little thing to get right
.
Just want to point out onceagain this is extremely
important for our professionalkind of writing and it doesn't
necessarily apply when you writea letter to your parents or
something as an editor, i alwaysgo straight for the beginning
(10:04):
of an article when I'm startingto edit.
Christine Buehler (10:08):
LEDE is a really useful editing code as an
editor because it just makessure that I look at the
beginning of every paragraph, atthe beginning of every article
and just like saying do Iunderstand what is being said
here and Is the reader by proxygoing to understand as well?
Carl Richards (10:32):
As a writer.
How do you approach this code?
Felicity Brand (10:35):
Okay, thinking about the LEDE editing code as a
writer.
So I guess my advice to otherwriters is don't sweat it at the
start.
So at OSP we work with acontent brief and the content
brief outlines the thesis forwhat we're about to write.
So when I'm writing I will justplonk that thesis down as the
(10:56):
very first sentence in my pieceWhich is probably clunky, you
know it's.
It's often not worded amazingly, but it but it does capture the
thesis.
So I will plonk that as myfirst sentence and then I will
write the piece and then rightat the end I'll come back and
finesse the lede to get thephrasing right, to keep it
simple and brief.
But generally I can't nail thatlede right when I sit down to
(11:20):
start to write.
Sometimes it can feel abrupt tojust launch straight in with
your lede, but so it can.
It can be tempting to startwith background and context and
really kind of work your way upto something, but readers don't
have time for that, so don'tkeep it a mystery.
What's your point, what's yourstance, what's your opinion?
(11:41):
What is this piece about?
We really want to lay it outright at the start.
The other thing I just wanted tomention is sometimes for a
long-form piece, we might have atitle in the form of a question
.
So if you do ask a question inthe title, you should answer it
in the subtitle or at least veryearly on.
You don't want to leave it tillthe summary to answer that
(12:01):
question that you've asked,because readers don't have time
for that.
If your title is a questionlike Should we move to X product
, you should answer thatstraight away in the subtitle or
the intro with We think so, andhere are the reasons why, just
so that the audience, the reader, is in no doubt about what
they're about to embark uponWhen they're reading again.
Chris Fenwick (12:24):
I think it's one of these things that you tend to
internalize after a while ifyou're used to kind of writing
in a particular style.
But definitely it's sometimes athing where you reorganize what
you've written with it in mind,you realize that you've written
one paragraph that actuallymakes sense.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (12:43):
Going further up, I don't think I've
Properly ever internalized thiscreation of the lede.
I Definitely don't get thefirst paragraph right as the
first thing I write.
At OSP We use some templates tofill in what we call content
briefs so that we have an ideaof who, who the audience is,
what we're writing about and Andso on, so we can have a sort of
(13:04):
an editorial checklist, makesure everything's covered and
and so on.
That can give us a good idea ofwhat the article is about.
And in the end I Usually writesomething.
And then I write the wholearticle and by the time I'm five
, six hundred, a thousand wordsin and I get to the conclusion,
like the last Paragraph, wherein our style of business writing
(13:25):
, we generally so we told youabout this and if you want to
have this benefit, why don't youtry out that and push them
towards the call to action?
when I get that just about right, i find myself then, you know,
quickly comparing the structureof the article to that and
Looking at all of it, and then Iwrite the lede that I actually
got miss like, because in thatmoment I've gotten all the way
(13:48):
down the path to where thearticle is composed and
structured where I want it andthen Then I can sort of put that
cherry on top of it as a writer, I really like the LEDE editing
code because it's just aconstant reminder to be
straightforward at that phase ofthe writing process you don't
(14:09):
need to be like fancy orparticularly clever, it's really
just a Common sense, back tobasics Reminder, and I think
that's really important when itcomes to clear product
communications, which is whatwe're trying to do at Open
Strategy Partners.
Carl Richards (14:30):
For the reader to have a great experience.
Here's why this editing code isextremely important.
Felicity Brand (14:35):
So LEDE is about respecting your audience, their
time and attention.
So there's so much content outthere.
We know that, and knowing whatyou're jumping into makes you
feel confident and comfortable.
So putting the lede at thefront is a kindly act for your
reader Because it allows them toskim read.
Basically, if you've got agreat title, lots of subheadings
(14:56):
, nicely chunked blocks of textand all of those sentences have
great ledes, the reader canquickly consume your piece.
When I'm reading, i'm lazy, idon't don't make me work hard,
just just tell me and then, ifthere's more detail, i will dive
into that.
That's what LEDE is about forme.
Chris Fenwick (15:13):
In general it makes the piece easier to read.
It lowers the sort ofresistance Cognitive load for
the the reader that they have toface.
So, if they are just sort of, ifeverything is put it, if the
information is presented in alogical order, they have all the
context that they need to makesense of everything else that
comes after, whereas if you'retelling them something and then
(15:35):
they don't yet necessarily knowwhat area the company works in,
for example, then if you do, ifthat's necessary to know and
it's not being made clear yet,then they'll be confused until
they read on a bit further.
So again, it's more aboutReducing the cognitive load for
the reader.
Jeffrey A. McGuire (15:53):
Oh, that's a terrific point.
A lot of functional writing hasEcology behind it and I want to
believe that we use thosepsychological principles polls
for good.
So in this case, yeah, reducingsomeone's cognitive load,
helping them get tounderstanding is this right for
me?
Do I need this?
can this help me?
(16:13):
I think that's a great reasonto do it and on a practical
level, as still as the consumer,still as the reader, if the
search engine takes the firstparagraph as the results
description, or it takes themeta description, or Whether it
generates its own, which it'sstarting to do now.
If it generates its own, we'rekind of out of luck as creators.
But otherwise, when we look atour first paragraphs and our
(16:35):
metadata as a consumer, then Ihave this.
I have this chance to get aquick picture of where I am and
and decide if I need to, if Ineed to Take my time for this or
not.
Christine Buehler (16:45):
I think that The LEDE editing code is
important as a reader, becauseyou know right away if the
article is relevant to you ornot.
Or you should just by readingthe very first paragraph.
As you keep reading, hopefullybecause the article is relevant
to you, each following paragraphwill keep just presenting the
(17:09):
lede in a straightforward way,so you always know where you're
at and where you're going.
Carl Richards (17:30):
I hope you, dear listener, caught our lede right
at the start and knew exactlywhat you were in for.
Next time you start creating apiece of content, put your main
points first and let the restfollow.
Share your examples orquestions with us via Twitter at
open underscore strategy, oremail hello at
openstrategypartnerscom.
(17:51):
Next time you're writing, bemindful of word choices that
contain references to time.
Oh, and speaking of time,yesterday I bought six watches.
You could say I have a lot oftime on my hands.
How do you use date in yourwriting?
Share your examples orquestioner at open underscore
(18:13):
strategy or email.
Hello at open strategy partners.
This was one of the editorialcodes we use at OSP.
If you'd like to learn more inthe meantime, come on over to
openstrategypartnerscom, have alook on our writer enablement
workshop case study offering orget in touch to talk about your
product communication needs.
(18:34):
Thanks to who contributed tothis podcast all the P's at OSP.
To our clients who beliefsshout out.
To Patrick Gaumont for our highenergy maple syrup flavored
theme music and to Mike Snow foradditional horn arrangements.
Thank you for listening andsubscribing About our three
themes on the podcast.
(18:55):
You'll hear different membersof the OSP team hosting episodes
over time.
Communicate all things.
Communication, or how we tacklewriting, editing, word choices,
formats, processes and more.
Connect in-depth conversationswith interesting, smart people,
who they are, what they do andhow they approach their life and
(19:17):
work as communicators,technologists and leaders.
Grow cover approaches tounderstanding and expressing the
value you do, including tools,tests and practices.
We also feel strongly aboutbuilding a mindful, positive,
human first culture at work.
That's bound to pop up fromtime to time too.
This podcast is us figuring outcommunication connection and
(19:43):
together.
Subscribe now on YouTube, applepod, the podcast channel of
your choice.
Thank you.
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