As part of the product planning process at Judy’s Book, the primary document is a high level functional spec. In addition to this, at Andy’s insistence (thanks for the nudge, Andy) I created a one page summary which matched features in the spec to our core priorities, listed out the proposed phasing of work and the all important “what we’re not doing” section.

The spec (even though it isn’t always read in detail) is a great resource for working with our engineering team; the 1-pager was a good way to work with the management team. In a prior startup, I was told that communicating isn’t about what you think you said, it’s about what the other person thinks you said. I realize this is bloody obvious, but it’s easy to overlook.

In this case, I thought I was done when the spec was produced, but without the additional documentation and the one on one meetings where the same message was being delivered (albeit in different packaging) I wasn’t communicating effectively. If you’re not communicating, the right things aren’t getting done and that’s not ideal.

The other huge benefit of this is that all the communication really helps you understand what the hell you’re talking about.