Written by Des Traynor

My writing process is pretty simple: I keep a Trello board full of ideas I'm still thinking about. As I go through a day at Intercom, or as I read through my feeds, I'll occasionally gather data, anecdotes, or examples, that support a point. I add these to the cards as they occur.

When I feel I have enough fresh ideas, I start writing & preparing images. I try to support every key point I make with 3 things, an explanation, an example, and an illustration. I prepare visuals in wireframe/sketch form, and our visual design Frantisek turns them into beautiful graphics.

In terms of finding good content people care about, it's all about fresh thinking.

You have to say something that either:

• hasn't been covered well before (Being first doesn't matter)
• is contrary to popular opinions (e.g. All content is marketing, If it's important don't hack it)
• or supports popular opinions but argued from a new standpoint (Strategy means saying no)

Des Traynor is the COO at Intercom, where designs the end user experience.

He writes about UX, Customer Acquisition/Experience and Startups at insideintercom.io