Documentation: an Integral and an Overlooked Aspect of Product Management

Over the course of my role as a Product Manager for 5+ years, I have consistently observed good product managers standing out for one major reason, apart from the other essential skills (of course!), and that is DOCUMENTATION. 📑

I have been extremely lucky enough to also work under great leaders who have always emphasized on prioritizing documentation, and moreover efficient documentation.

Lemme highlight the most important pointers I've picked up first-hand below:

Clarity and alignment

1. Well-documented product requirements, user stories, and roadmaps ensure that all stakeholders, including developers, designers, and other team members, have a clear understanding of the product's goals, features, and priorities. This alignment helps avoid miscommunication, confusion, and delays in product development. Make sure you talk a lot with your stakeholders that inform your document. Never write in isolation, and never write with assumptions or half-baked clarity. 

You are responsible for aligning the teams, period. 🔖

Knowledge sharing

2. Documentation essentially acts as a knowledge repository that captures the rationale behind decisions, user research findings, and market analysis. This information is invaluable for new team members or stakeholders who can then quickly understand the product context and history. It is essential to maintain document versions, or methods to inform stakeholders of changes in the document wherever necessary. Make sure to get approvals wherever required before ingesting the change in the document. 

Document everything; meetings, brainstorming sessions, stakeholder feedback, and even some important emails. 🔖

Traceability

3. Proper documentation allows for traceability, making it easier to track the evolution of a product, its features, and requirements over time. This can be particularly helpful when addressing issues or identifying areas for improvement in future iterations.

We know those long threaded emails are just exhausting. Better to avoid those, and have a single source of truth. 🔖

Accountability

4. Clear documentation helps maintain accountability within the team by outlining responsibilities, timelines, and expectations. This ensures that everyone understands their role in the product development process and can be held accountable for their work. This inherently eases your work of ensuring if everyone is on the same page, and everyone understands their core responsibilities and expectations for the said module/project/product. 

Referencing implicitly drives visibility to the progress and the ownership, and reduces ambiguity. 🔖