I tended to over-explain but I developed a few tricks that help me keep things simple. I follow this five-step process, especially when writing answers: 1. Wha

I tended to over-explain but I developed a few tricks that help me keep things simple. I follow this five-step process, especially when writing answers: 1. What is the question? Too often, I found I was speaking about the topic, but not actually answering the question. 2. Wait, what is the real question? I try to take a moment and think about the question and what information the asker is actually trying to get. 3. Did I answer the question? Or did I ramble about unrelated minutiae? 4. Did I answer the real question? Or will there need to be follow up questions because I didn't get to the heart of the answer? 5. Did I actually make sense? --- Whenever I have to answer hard questions, I try to write down succinct answers in less than 3 sentences. This helps me practice getting to the point, rather than my natural rambling.