Good Product Brief, Bad Product Brief

Tips on how to write briefs that drive progress and impact for your teams.

After 10+ years of writing and reviewing product briefs at Google, YouTube and Coda, I've observed a few patterns. As a hat tip to a

classic product essay

, here's some simple advice as you embark on writing or editing that next brief.

Good product briefs set clear
context
for the reader.

By contrast, bad product briefs leave the reader wondering how we got here.

Example starter language:

We began this project by...

Prior to this project, there have been related efforts...

Good product briefs start by articulating the
problem
and
why
it's important to solve.

By contrast, bad product briefs start with a single solution and take that solution into detail.

Example starter language:

In order to understand the problem more clearly, we plan to...

We believe the key customer problem to address is...

Good product briefs have a plan on how the team will
learn
.

By contrast, bad product briefs assume the first answer will be 'right' for the customer.

Example starter language:

In order to learn from customers quickly, we plan to...

We'll review learnings as a team at these intervals...

Good product briefs touch on
social
&
emotional
aspects of the product.

By contrast, bad product briefs only describe functional aspects of the product.

Example starter language:

Our users should feel...

When this feature is adopted by a team, we expect...

Good product briefs bring the
tough questions
to the surface early.

By contrast, bad product briefs avoid the tough tradeoffs or hide hard questions.

Example starter language:

A difficult question we anticipate needing to answer is...

We foresee a real tradeoff between...

Good briefs build
momentum
toward the next phase of a project.

By contrast, bad product briefs leave people wondering what will happen next.

Example starter language:

We'll plan to gain early momentum by starting...

The list of our next steps can be found...

Fun additions

Want to know who's read your brief?

Below is a simple template in Coda where readers can hit the button to indicate they have finished reading. This is really handy when you send a pre-read and want to know how much of the room has read the brief.

To use it, hit the '/' key then type 'read' and choose the

I've Read It

drag and drop template

. See it in action below.

I've finished reading

Want to gather sentiment on your brief (and not just inline comments)?

Below is a simple template in Coda where readers can add how they feel about the brief. This is handy to step back from individual comments and gather any overall thoughts and sentiment about the brief. In tools like Google Docs, you often see people adding meta-comments on the title of the brief, this gives a better, structured outlet for those meta-comments.

To use it, hit the '/' key, then type 'team' and choose the

Team Sentiment Tracker

drag and drop template

. See it in action below.

Add Your Sentiment

Check to show everyone's sentiment (

1

submitted with average sentiment of

5

)

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.

Good Product Brief, Bad Product Brief

Good product briefs set clear context for the reader.

Good product briefs start by articulating the problem and why it's important to solve.

Good product briefs have a plan on how the team will learn.

Good product briefs touch on social & emotional aspects of the product.

Good product briefs bring the tough questions to the surface early.

Good briefs build momentum toward the next phase of a project.

Fun additions

Want to know who's read your brief?

Want to gather sentiment on your brief (and not just inline comments)?

Good product briefs set clear
context
for the reader.

Good product briefs start by articulating the
problem
and
why
it's important to solve.

Good product briefs have a plan on how the team will
learn
.

Good product briefs touch on
social
&
emotional
aspects of the product.

Good product briefs bring the
tough questions
to the surface early.

Good briefs build
momentum
toward the next phase of a project.