Large European e-commerce marketplace
A large European e-commerce marketplace wanted its product managers to write Amazon-style press releases and FAQs before building. After a Working Backwards webinar for more than 100 people, including the executive team, I ran live workshops and coached each team’s draft until it was ready for executives. At least four of the eight product ideas went on to launch, including a membership offer in a new market that reached six-figure membership within months.
What I did
Discovery interviews with the programme office, and a “PR/FAQ for PR/FAQs” reference document written together
A Working Backwards kick-off webinar for more than 100 people, including the executive team
Live PR/FAQ workshops for groups of about 20, plus a dedicated team cohort
Individual team coaching on real PR/FAQ drafts, to get them ready for executive presentations
Results
At least four of the eight product ideas written up in the workshops later launched
A membership offer in a new market reached six-figure membership within months
New services for partners and customers launched from the workshop drafts
The PR/FAQ spread across several divisions, and is still in use
The situation
A large European e-commerce marketplace wanted its product managers to start new ideas the way Amazon does. Its head of product and technology wanted every product manager to be able to write a PR/FAQ: a short press release and a set of questions and answers that describe a product from the customer’s side, before anyone builds it. The aim was to make it one of the standard documents product managers use to propose new ideas.
The programme office and the learning team owned the change. They needed a way to teach a new kind of writing across a large organisation, using real work.
What we did
I started with interviews with the programme office, to understand what they needed. Together we wrote a “PR/FAQ for PR/FAQs”: a reference document, written in the same format, that explained the approach.
Then I ran a kick-off webinar on Working Backwards for more than 100 people, including the executive team, so everyone heard the same story about why it mattered.
The main work was hands-on. Product managers signed up for live workshops in groups of about 20, with two sessions each, plus a dedicated group for one team. Each person brought a real product idea, not an exercise. In the workshops they drafted their press release and FAQs, and got feedback from me and from each other.
Between sessions the product managers reworked their drafts in shared documents, and I reviewed them line by line: what a customer would care about, what was still vague, and which questions an executive would ask. The programme office joined the workshops, so it could support teams once they ended.
What happened
At least half of the product ideas the teams wrote up went on to launch: four of the eight, across customer membership, partner services and analytics. Each one started as a one-page press release drafted in the workshops.
The biggest was a membership offer for a new market. It reached six-figure membership within months of launch.
The PR/FAQ spread across several divisions of the company, and teams still use it today.
What people said
THANK YOU for all your engagement so far and sharing your expert knowledge.
Learning and development specialist