As a product or program manager, your communication needs to be 💯.
Why?
To keep everyone aligned 🤝, drive product development 🛠️, and build trust and transparency 💎 and get you the support you need from your team and leadership.
No one wants to wade through a dense, jargon-filled newsletter 😴, self congratulatory tomes or a list of 🚦🚦🚦 red-green-yellow updates which don’t communicate project risks that you might need help with.
Imagine comms that don’t just inform, they inspire. Where every word sparks action and every message hits the mark.
Ready to ditch the fluff and make some magic? ✨
BTW - This is a follow on to “Writing crisp weekly reports“.
Three Simple Tips to Level Up Your Comms
Here is how to write 🔥 updates that communicate project status crisply, lead to action and drive the results you want:
1. Focus on Outcomes over output
You may remember Show vs Tell from your writing classes - It’s the same principle. Stop telling us what you’re doing; tell us what you’ve achieved. Instead of “I had a meeting with XYZ on Wednesday,” try “We secured stakeholder buy-in for Feature X.” 👍 Focus on what you and your team have achieved, not just what you’re doing.
2. Use Facts to beat fiction
“Greatly improved” and “huge opportunity” sound impressive, but they’re subjective and ultimately unclear as reasonable people could read those words and disagree and what is and what is not “huge”. Use concrete data and get everyone aligned.
Instead of “We saw a large increase in user engagement,” try “User engagement increased by 15% this week.” 📈 Numbers speak louder than words!
3. Convey clear Action Items that crush ambiguity
If you need action to be taken, be crystal clear about who’s responsible and when it’s due. Instead of “We’ll discuss next steps” 🤷♀️, give clear action items: “John will finalize the design spec by EOD Friday.” 📝 Ensure everyone knows what needs to happen and who’s responsible.
By following these three simple tips, you can transform your product updates from dreaded time-wasters into valuable communication tools that level up your reports and products. ✨
Note: This post was dictated to, edited with and ❤️ingly hand crafted using Gemini