✍️ How Writing Cultures Fail

+ Advice for Early Career PMs

Most companies that don’t have a writing culture could greatly benefit from instituting one. But, many writing cultures fail, because they don’t actively try to avoid the potential pitfalls.

Here are 5 ways a writing culture can go wrong:

1. Replacing collaboration
The most common failure pattern for writing cultures is when writing replaces collaboration. The pattern is simple: to save time, a team member makes the first draft. But removing collaboration impacts business performance: ideas are less hardened.

2. People not reading
Another common failure pattern for writing cultures is differing reading levels. Some people read the whole doc, others skim. This can lead one member to assume the other agrees on something they don’t, and create misalignment.

3. The writing tax burning out teams
Many writing cultures fail because they become too onerous. For many types of people, their skillset may not be writing. This is especially true for English as a second language folks, who can percieve a writing culture as not inclusive. Force fitting it on them can burn them out.

4. Assuming if it’s written, it’s right
Another common failure pattern for writing cultures is when written items from senior people aren’t questioned. The written word becomes authoritative. Unfortunately, the whole company becomes a confirmation machine, hurting performance.

5. Solving too many problems
Sometimes, there is a place for a meeting, brainstorm, or - heaven forbid - slide deck. Writing documents can become dogma and stifle creativity. It shouldn’t be the only way to communicate in business.

The trick to capture the benefits of a writing culture is to balance. You want to still have a collaborative culture that hardens ideas. And it is completely doable.

It’s actually beneficial. Building a writing culture has so many benefits:

1. Clarity of thinking
Writing forces the writer to master the topic. And nothing lays bare the gaps in logic better than writing. Slides and meetings can “pull the curtain over your eyes.” In a document, it’s easy to spot improper use of data, or lack of rigorous thinking.

2. Canvas for collaboration
Gaps and areas to improve are easy to comment on in a doc. In fact, the best writing cultures can increase collaboration by: increasing surface area to comment, giving a canvas for quieter members to speak up, and sharing all the context.

3. Record-keeping
The ability to look back is greatly enhanced in a writing culture. If the team wants to confirm an approval, or an intention, it is right there. Docs help create a better learning loop by creating better records.

In sum - Writing cultures rock. But, you have to heed the pitfalls to implement them well.

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Advice for PMs

Early career PMs, read this;

1. Relationships over features: always put the long-term before a specific result.

2. Abstract suggested features into user problems: only commit to solving the problem.

3. Expect to have areas to improve: not even the best PMs have nothing to get better at, there is too much to do.

4. To be liked, you don’t have to say yes: saying I will consider it and following up with why no is often better.

5. There is no down-side to being nice.

6. Positivity is infectious: even in light of bad news, teammates can’t help but notice consistent positive spin.

7. It’s easy to work 80 hours a week, but we are only paid for 40.

8. Sleep, socializing, and side projects enhance, not detract, from the job.

9. The most senior product leaders you work with did not grow up on empowered teams.

10. Do PM like it’s done at your company, not the books. The books are a dream.

11. Writing always enhances clarity of thought. Write speclets and strategies regularly.

12. One bad meeting can override 100 good one’s. Don’t slip.

13. Career growth happens in fits and starts. Use stagnation as motivation.

14. You can always leave and make a few extra thousand somewhere else.

15. PM experience is currency. Gain it in the specialties you want to pursue.

16. It is always possible to switch industries or specializations.

17. Limits are in your head. You can make it to VP 2x as fast as you think.

18. Humility is critical, but so is confidence. You’ll be knocked down more than once as a PM. Accept failure and improve, but never give up.

19. Lead through influence. 99 times out of 100, it’s better to go with a consensus decision over what you think.

20. Be kind to yourself. The biggest downfalls of early career PMs - burnout and impostor syndrome - are often burdens we impose on ourselves.