Everything we write is part of a conversation. What we write for work (and for helping people use products at home) serves a purpose. To have successful conversations (in email, web sites, apps, and more), we must understand what we are trying to achieve (our purposes), who we are conversing with (personas), and what they want and need to know (their conversations). When we think of our writing through purposes, personas, conversations, we can often succeed by letting go of many words.