Writing is the key to building a successful Product organization. There is no other form of expression that comes close to writing as the way to remove ambiguity, crystalize thoughts and demonstrate clarity of thinking. There is a Latin proverb translated as “"Spoken words fly away, written words remain".
Ever been in meetings where you feel like a lot was agreed but because nothing was written down and everyone came away with different expectations and nothing happened or things went off in an entirely unexpected direction? For a Product organization these misunderstandings are death by a thousand cuts. For technology driven companies, the Product Development process is attempting to Work Backwards from the customer to codifying solutions. Writing is the bridge. If your organization and in particular your Product Managers are not writing and sharing about the future state of your product you have a problem.
Writing is easy, everyone can do it. Yes, but not everyone is a published author. Writing is a skill. Furthermore, the style of writing that is essential in a Product organization is very specific to the Product Development process. In the early stages of product discovery, writing serves the purpose of documenting a customer need and selling an idea for a solution which can be a new product, service or feature. Later, when the organization decides to prioritize the proposed solution, writing serves the purpose of removing ambiguity from nebulous areas of the solution that introduce risk to the final outcome the product is attempting to achieve. However, at all stages of the process, writing is the most effective and most efficient form of communicating what is needed.
Your metric of success for Product writing is the ratio of new information to the number of words you use. Being concise and specific are key skills necessary in this style of writing. However, at the early stages when you are in selling mode you also need to be impactful, convincing and benefits focused too.
To develop a culture of writing, I recommend standardizing on specific document templates for each stage of the Product Development process. The four document types that are essential are as follows, 1. 6-page Narrative - this is a long form story about the future of your product or service. It takes the reader from where you are today to some future state and describes all the customer outcomes along the way. This isn’t some vague strategy doc. The content should be organized into potential features and projects but written in a timeline format, ideally with some overarching themes tying the story together. 2. Press Release - the press release is the first thing you publish when you launch the product. If your feature launched and the press release published, what would it say about the feature? The key thing in this document is describing the customer pain point and the unique benefits of your solution. This document also touches on product positioning and pricing. 4. Product Requirements Document - this is the document most commonly used in all Product organizations. It can take many forms including use cases, user stories etc but essentially this is a detailed document that describes the requirements of the solution, 3. Decision Document - often when developing non trivial solutions you hit a roadblock in the form of a key decision. In this situation, you need to write a decision document to bring clarity to the options and drive the path forward.
In following blog posts, I will expand further into writing techniques and provide more guidance on using the document types above. For now, put down your Powerpoints and stick men. Writing is your primary method of communicating from here.
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