Lessons From Writing Over 30 Product Strategy Documents

I’ve always been amazed by people who write well. In a work setting, a well written document can drive clarity, unite the direction of a team and reduce confusion. Amazon and P&G are examples of companies where writing is taken very seriously. In my own experience, I recently had the opportunity to write more than 30 product strategy documents in a 3 month period and in the process has transformed the cynic in me into a true believer in documentation and the practice of writing.

The pandemic has elevated the importance of the written word. As many of us have shifted to remote work, ideas and decisions are sometimes scattered and lost through various instant messaging threads or side conversations. The ability to capture important thoughts onto a single document can make a huge difference in driving focus and reducing frustration.

Where to start?

In many parts of the business, it’s not uncommon for documentation to not exist, so starting this practice may feel like an insurmountable task. Don’t panic, the key is to take small steps and target the areas where you have the most influence. A prime area to focus on is when something new is being introduced such as a new feature, or a new business process. This is a great opportunity to introduce (if one doesn’t exist) a new set of documents to capture the strategy and intent of such work.

If there are no new features or business processes to document, another place to start creating documents is in areas where there is confusion. In this case, the goal of the document could be to prevent the same question being asked again and again by providing clarity and direction.

Practical tips

If you’re writing the first document of its kind, some background work is required to establish a common template, standardized naming convention, and a centralized location that can be shared with the appropriate people in an organization.

Keep the main portion of the document as short as possible, ideally less than one page, but in practice it may end up being a few pages long – Amazon uses a 6 pager and P&G is known for its one pagers. Ruthlessly edit out sections and words that don’t add value and move all supporting documentation to the appendix to maintain focus. It’s important to balance the need to capture all the key points, but all this would be a waste if it’s too long to be read.

What’s next?

I almost couldn’t imagine that I’d be writing non-technical documents one day. It’s great to know that some of those skills as well as the actual practice of writing is transferable. I’ll be  treating this as a craft and it will take practice and dedication to improve.

At the moment, writing even one single post is time intensive and challenging. Each post requires several drafts and multiple edits. However, with each post, the writing muscle strengthens and the process gets just a little bit easier each time.

We’re looking forward to honing our skills and becoming more efficient so that we can share more of our past experiences as well as documenting new ideas that have influenced our thinking as we build towards our next set of life goals.