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Communication is fundamental to good product management, which means, writing is a critical skill for PMs to master. Being remote has only made this more important.
Here's my take on the most important written artifacts for PMs to master, along with resources to help
Here's my take on the most important written artifacts for PMs to master, along with resources to help
Goals/OKRs/etc: PMs should connect the dots between company strategy and team strategy. Being able to write exciting and measurable goals dramatically improves the clarity of your team’s work and how it connects to the big picture. https://buff.ly/2p3rs2D
Team Mission Statement: a good one orients and excites the team about the opportunity and clarifies team ownership. Writing these should be a team effort but as a PM, I’ve often facilitated the sessions and refined the ideas into the final statement.
One-pagers: the best one-pagers I’ve written and seen leave the reader feeling like they understand the problem, the constraints and inspire ideation and action. There are many ways to write them - I can’t say it any better than @johncutlefish did here: https://buff.ly/2H3HDaG
Research plan: I feel very strongly that research shouldn't start without a clear research plan. It’s the best way to outline the questions the research should answer, determine the best methods, and gather feedback. https://buff.ly/35C4pQx
Research questions: Writing unbiased, non-leading interview and survey questions can be a mind bender but it’s a critical skill to master. Honestly, learning how to ask good questions helps you understand people better! https://buff.ly/2vufNgr
Status updates: PMs are constantly giving updates. These could be blah or they could stand out.
Status updates sound may trivial but if you can write a succinct, clear, creative, and entertaining update, you’ve taken a “trivial” thing and made it powerful.
Status updates sound may trivial but if you can write a succinct, clear, creative, and entertaining update, you’ve taken a “trivial” thing and made it powerful.
PRDs: These have evolved in a good way. A short, well-written PRD can make the design and dev collab smoother and becomes the reference point when inevitably someone will forget how something was supposed to work. This @ProductHunt one is one of my faves. https://buff.ly/2AnD5L1
Release + launch notes: Even once you ship, there are more things to write! Good notes celebrate the work, help sales people know how to sell your product, help customers understand what new thing they can do. Huge fan of @NotionHQ release notes: https://buff.ly/2IAXK0t
Depending on the size, stage, and structure of your company, PMs may also have a hand in writing product copy, support documentation, internal/external guides or FAQs, etc.
Bottom line: PMs need to know how to write.
Bottom line: PMs need to know how to write.
Some general writing advice for PMs:
https://buff.ly/2NzBGoY
Writing docs at Amazon - take with a grain of salt, Amazon's culture may not apply: https://buff.ly/2OqvkXE
General business writing: https://buff.ly/2SjC2lP
What did I miss? Any other artifacts PMs should master?
https://buff.ly/2NzBGoY
Writing docs at Amazon - take with a grain of salt, Amazon's culture may not apply: https://buff.ly/2OqvkXE
General business writing: https://buff.ly/2SjC2lP
What did I miss? Any other artifacts PMs should master?
