Write better with Why, What and How Framework
Use can use this in the Project Documentation.
Why
Explain the problem and context.
- Why is this document important
- Explain the problem
- Expected benefits of solving it.
- Why now
This section is the "hook". People who read the why should feel they need more details(rest of the document).
What
Describe the solution. Expected outcomes and how to measure it.
- Success conditions/ Functional requirements
- Constrains/ Non-functional requirements
- Trade offs to be made
How
- Methodology
- High level design
- Tech decisions
You can add how you DON'T want to implement too(out of scope things).
| Why? | What? | How? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-Pager | Problem or opportunity, Hypothesized benefits | Success metrics, Constraints | Deliverables, Define out-of-scope |
| Design Doc | Why the problem is important, Expected ROI | Business/product requirements, Technical requirements & constraints | Methodology & system design, Diagrams, experiment results, tech choices, integration |
| After-action Review | Context of incident, Root cause analysis (5 Whys) | Tangible & intangible impact, Estimates (e.g., downtime, $) | Follow-up actions & owners |
| Writing Content | Why reading the post is important (e.g., anecdotes) | The topic being discussed (e.g., documents we write at work) | The insight being shared (e.g., Why-What-How, examples) |