A product brief is a good starting point for any product manager embarking on a new project. This document is written by the product manager and should be a critical component of product discovery efforts.
There are various approaches to early documentation at the discovery level. Amazon has its well-documented Working Backwards approach. The Working Backwards has been adopted and adapted by PMs at various companies. The general format is as follows:
- Press Release (PR): Here, the product manager envisions the press release of the new product. The press releases highlights the delightful features of the product and the critical problems the product solves for the customers.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): This section serves to address external questions that a customer might have as well as internal questions that stakeholders might have during the development efforts.
While at Amazon, I wrote PR FAQs for a couple of products that I was responsible for. However, I have since come to prefer a one-pager that is simple and to the point.
At its core, a brief consists of the following:
- What are we going for?: Provide a background and overview of the idea or product that needs to be investigated further. Identify not only what the product is but also what the product isn’t.
- What it’s not?: What are the non-goals or constraints that the teams need to be aligned on?
- Who is the customer, audience, or end user?: Who is the expected target audience for this new product?
- Who do we need to get there?: Which teams and resources are necessary from product discovery to product delivery?
- When is the due date?: What are your assumptions for the expected launch date and when the work is ideally expected to begin?
- How do we know if we got there?: What key metrics will this new product improve upon. How will the new product be quantified as successful?
A product brief or a similar style of document should be where a a product manager starts before any work begins. It doesn’t need to be a standard template as each PM should figure out the best path for the project at hand. It also isn’t meant to capture decisions or project status. This document should provide guidelines and constraints that keep the product goals in focus.
What happens after the product brief is written?
After the product brief is written, the product manager should socialize the document with internal peers and stakeholders for refinement and buy-in purposes. Once there’s buy-in, the product manager can proceed to market research, writing PRDs, user stories, and other development efforts as required.
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