Atomic Q&A Format
Breaking a long argument into modules, each a question-shaped heading followed by a self-contained answer of forty to sixty words.
Analogy Mental model
Turning a heavy legal code into a box of flashcards. Whichever question comes up, one card can be pulled and read aloud without summarising the whole book first.
In practice What you actually do
In the second half of an article, use the user's own phrasing as the heading, then answer in the first sentence: a flat yes or no, followed immediately by the condition that makes it true. Elaboration belongs in the next paragraph, not before the answer.
Where people get burned Pitfalls
The self-containment test is what most writers fail. If the block is copied out of the page and posted somewhere else, it has to read as a complete thought, which means no pronouns pointing at paragraphs the reader no longer has.
This entry was written in English from the Chinese original, not machine-translated. Read the Chinese version →