As a product manager, you’re often in a difficult place when creating a new product or updating an existing one. For one thing, there’s an ongoing struggle between ideas pushed by stakeholders of various levels of seniority and those that come directly from you. Sometimes ideas are driven by inspiration or by detailed research and discovery, but either way, you need to be understood clearly and win the endorsement of stakeholders.
Communication is always a challenge, but luckily you can simplify it. What if instead of starting from an idea, presenting it to stakeholders, developing it, and then working on user communication, you could flip the order and start with your value proposition/marketing talk to the clients?
This is where the PR/FAQ method comes in. In this article, you’ll learn what the PR/FAQ method is and how you can use it to drive product innovation.
PR/FAQ stands for press release and frequently asked questions. In a PM context, this translates to a document that describes an idea from the customer’s perspective and answers common questions that might arise.
The PR/FAQ method helps your product team to clarify their vision, communicate their strategy, validate their assumptions, and solicit feedback from others. It also helps them to focus on the customer’s problem and solution, rather than the technical details or the implementation.
It all started when Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, wanted to ensure that every product idea was aligned with the customer’s needs and expectations. He challenged his teams to write a press release for their product before they started building it, as a way to test the value proposition and the market. He also asked them to write a FAQ document to address any potential issues or objections that might come up from customers, partners, or internal stakeholders.
The PR/FAQ method doesn’t involve a static document, but a living one that evolves as the product idea matures and gets refined. It’s also not a solo effort, but a collaborative one that involves multiple perspectives and inputs. The PR/FAQ method is a way to work backward from the customer and create products that delight.
The PR/FAQ method consists of the three steps:
Use the PR/FAQ document as the starting point for the other product documents, such as the user stories, the design mockups, the technical specifications, the test cases, etc.
To do this easily, consider answering the following five “working backwards” questions in this method. These questions help you define the customer segment, the value proposition, the evidence of customer demand, and the desired outcome:
Now, for more tech or project management oriented PMs, this approach might come as a shock. Good! The PR/FAQ focuses first and foremost on the problem selected and the users’ perspective. Thus, the technical details can be ignored.
Instead, focus on a text that a layman user could understand. Use short, plain English sentences avoiding any corporate sudo-language. It’s not about using epic adjectives, but about giving users what they need while making sure they understand the problem and proposed solution.
Circling back to the lack of technical details, I would recommend you go even deeper with this and allow your imagination to go a little wild. You’re really writing a pitch for your senior leadership by showing them a future ad of a finished product.
Because of this, there’s no harm in dismissing aspects that can be difficult to pull off. You want to pull the idea off the ground and for that, your head needs to be in the sky! If you keep to the ground, no innovation can happen.
As hard as it can be at this stage, try to include some visuals and craft a nice design for the general release document. A PR release of a proposed change in the product is supposed to spark the imagination and it will do so much better with visuals!
Finally, consider running a few rounds of consultation for the main draft and FAQ questions selection before showing the text to the approving party. You may discover some recurring questions that should be added to the FAQ.
When people ask me what the most important skill is for a product manager, I always say communication. The right words spoken to the right people at the right time determine whether your vision will come to life. Some of us can maneuver this skill naturally, while others struggle and stumble, jeopardizing progress.
The PR/FAQ method is a great tool that will allow you to practice your sales pitch and have a real shot at getting an important idea fully understood, and, even more importantly, funded. Good luck crafting your product and see you in the next article!
Featured image source: IconScout
LogRocket identifies friction points in the user experience so you can make informed decisions about product and design changes that must happen to hit your goals.
With LogRocket, you can understand the scope of the issues affecting your product and prioritize the changes that need to be made. LogRocket simplifies workflows by allowing Engineering, Product, UX, and Design teams to work from the same data as you, eliminating any confusion about what needs to be done.
Get your teams on the same page — try LogRocket today.
Dan Lawyer is Chief Product Officer at Lucid Software. He got his kickstart into product while working for Novell, which […]
A product owner sets the direction, keeps the team focused, and ensures that the product becomes a source of value.
Suhas Reddy discusses the principles of human-centric design and its emphasis on delivering products in the context of the customer.
Liz Li, CPO of Velocity Global, discusses the importance of meaningful interactions in tech plus services that contribute to company goals.