Word Budget

One page is 200–250 words of body copy. That is the constraint. It is also the discipline. Every word in a 200-word document is a decision about what to keep and what to discard. The document that needs 500 words is a document with 300 unnecessary words, not a document that needs a second page.

The editing process from 500 words to 200 follows a pattern. First pass: cut all background. The reader does not need to know the history of the problem — they need to know its current cost. Remove every sentence that starts with 'Historically,' 'Over the past several years,' or 'We have been exploring.' Second pass: cut all qualifications. 'It is worth noting that,' 'As we consider,' 'While there are many factors,' and 'In our assessment' are throat-clearing. Cut them. Third pass: cut all 'this shows that' transitions. If the evidence is clear, the reader sees what it shows. 'This demonstrates that AI can reduce processing costs, which means' becomes 'AI reduces processing costs.' Keep only what moves the decision forward.

1. 1. Write the First Draft Without a Budget Write the complete argument without editing. Get everything on the page: context, evidence, implications, objections you anticipate, all of it. This draft will be 500–600 words. That is expected. Do not try to write short — write complete, then cut.
2. 2. First Pass: Cut Background Remove every sentence that orients the reader to the history of the problem. The one-pager is not a narrative arc — it is a recommendation with evidence. If a sentence starts with 'historically,' 'previously,' 'over the past several years,' or 'we have been working on,' cut it unless it is the key fact that makes the problem urgent.
3. 3. Second Pass: Cut Qualifications Remove hedging language: 'it appears,' 'we believe,' 'in our view,' 'it is worth noting.' If the claim needs qualification to be accurate, state the qualification as a fact, not a hedge. 'Based on pilot data' is a fact. 'We believe this may potentially suggest' is noise.
4. 4. Third Pass: Cut Transitions 'This demonstrates that,' 'as a result,' 'which suggests,' and 'therefore we can conclude' are connective tissue that weak arguments need and strong arguments do not. If the evidence is specific and the implication is clear, the reader makes the connection without being told to. Cut the transitions. The argument gets stronger.
5. 5. Final Pass: Kill Every Adverb 'Significantly,' 'substantially,' 'dramatically,' 'considerably' — these are words that describe how much you want the reader to feel about the evidence, not the evidence itself. '38% reduction' does not need 'dramatically.' 'Significantly reduces processing time by 38%' is weaker than 'reduces processing time by 38%.' Cut the adverbs.