Concise sentences are brief but informative. You get right to the point by avoiding wordiness.
For example, "At this point in time, I would like to say that we are ready to move ahead to the next section of this article." Wouldn't it be much better for you, as the reader, to see "Now, we are ready to move to the next section?" We both win. You have less words to read, I have less words to type. It's a win-win situation.
Eliminate Redundancy
Why should you or your reader suffer through long phrases when a single word works just as well? You can replace most redundant phrases with a single word and not lose any of the meaning.
The chart below gives a good example of redundant phrases and the single word alternatives.
Redundant Phrase > Single Word Replacement
At a rapid rate > Rapidly
Has the ability to > Can
In this day and age > Today
Situated toward > Near
The majority of > More
Due to the fact that > Because
Aware of the fact that > Know
On a personal basis > Personally
Take the place of > Substitute
Another form of redundancy is using two words to say the same thing. For example, the following two-word phrases can be changed to one word or the other and maintain the same meaning. Dead corpse
Final conclusion
Utmost perfection
Mental awareness
Mutual cooperation
Totally monopolize
Past experience
Mix together
Clear the Clutter
There are some common words that technical writers use to "fatten" up a "lean looking" set of instructions. These words don't add any meaning to the message, they only increase the word count.
The most common clutter words are:
Very
Definitely
Quite
Extremely
Rather
Somewhat
Really
Actually
Situation
Aspect
Factor
If you must use these words, make sure they serve a purpose in your message and aren't adding unnecessary bulk.
Avoid Qualifiers
Qualifiers are those little phrases that most writers start out each section with to justify why they are saying what they are saying. It's okay to put them in when you create your first draft. It helps you get your creative juices flowing. However, you should always remove them when you edit.
The most common qualifier phrases are:
I believe...
It seems...
I feel...
In my opinion...
I think...
It would appear that...
Take them out of your technical writing. They serve no good purpose.
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