1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,320
The PRPQ stands for press 
release and frequently asked 

2
00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,520
questions. 
Press release is not really a 

3
00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:08,360
marketing tool. 
It is a tool to describe a 

4
00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:10,960
vision. 
So you write a press release as 

5
00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,560
if the future was already here. 
Work at Microsoft for seven 

6
00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:17,200
years, and for 18 years I 
founded and work on many 

7
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,760
startups, and three years ago I 
joined Amazon. 

8
00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,840
I really fell in love with this 
PRFAQ framework, so when I left 

9
00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,080
Amazon I decided to write a book
about it. 

10
00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:28,920
What are the some important 
stuffs the main sections of 

11
00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,480
PRFAQ, the PR? 
FAQ is a written document. 

12
00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:34,520
It's 6 pages long and it has 
three sections, the press 

13
00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:38,480
release, the customer FAQs, and 
then you have internal FAQs. 

14
00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:42,920
As long as you write using this 
formula, you're going to get a 

15
00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:44,520
lot of results. 
And a lot of people feel 

16
00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,160
uncomfortable saying I'm not a 
good writer so I can't write 1. 

17
00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:54,160
And I understand that, but it's 
not true because most people can

18
00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,360
write APRFAQ. 
You don't need to be a good 

19
00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:58,840
writer to get started. 
You just need to get started to 

20
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:01,120
get started. 
What are some of the common 

21
00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,000
mistakes or anti patterns that 
you see people whenever they 

22
00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:09,120
adopting PRFAQ? 
The first one is really being #2

23
00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:11,000
mistake is. 
It's kind of silly, but people 

24
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:31,580
think of PRFAQ as a. 
Hello everyone, welcome to a new

25
00:01:31,580 --> 00:01:35,100
podcast episode. 
So today I have with me Marcelo 

26
00:01:35,100 --> 00:01:37,500
Calbucci. 
He's the author of the book 

27
00:01:37,500 --> 00:01:41,560
titled The PR FAQ Framework. 
Maybe some of you have heard 

28
00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:43,440
about that, maybe some of you 
don't. 

29
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,000
But this framework is 
popularized or maybe more like 

30
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,040
come from Amazon, right? 
So not many people probably have

31
00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,760
heard about that because, yeah, 
it's something that is still 

32
00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:55,920
kind of like picking up in terms
of adoption. 

33
00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,160
So Marcelo today will tell us 
what is PRFAQ, why it is so 

34
00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:04,240
powerful inside Amazon, and 
maybe how can we use that to, 

35
00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:07,480
you know, start in our work? 
So, Marcelo, welcome to the 

36
00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:09,680
show. 
Thank you for having me, Henry. 

37
00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,360
Right, Marcelo, in the 
beginning, I always love to 

38
00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,840
invite my guests to maybe share 
a little bit more from your 

39
00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:16,640
career. 
Any turning points that you 

40
00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:19,840
think we all can learn from you?
Yeah, sure. 

41
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,640
I started early on when I was a 
teenager, writing software, 

42
00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:26,760
first for myself, then for my 
family. 

43
00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:31,280
Then it became a business and I 
went to university to study 

44
00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,960
computer science. 
Shortly after graduating, 

45
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,520
Microsoft went to Brazil to 
recruit software engineers who 

46
00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:38,920
come to the US work for the 
company. 

47
00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:42,160
So I end up here in Seattle and 
work at Microsoft for seven 

48
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:43,880
years. 
Most of the time there I work at

49
00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,280
Bing. 
So going to Microsoft was 

50
00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,000
definitely a big shift to my 
career. 

51
00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,520
I also leaving Microsoft was a 
big shift to my career because I

52
00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:56,400
became the founder and for 18 
years I founded and work on many

53
00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:00,800
startups and startup studios 
both in the US and in the UK. 

54
00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,800
And three years ago, I joined 
Amazon, which is the opposite of

55
00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:08,080
a startup, if you will, a 
company with more than 1.5 

56
00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,480
million employees. 
So it's massive. 

57
00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,560
And as soon as I joined Amazon, 
I really fell in love with this 

58
00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:19,200
PRFAQ framework that they 
invented to discuss strategy and

59
00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,080
vision. 
And I really felt that it was 

60
00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:26,240
going to be, it is going to be 
useful for founders and product 

61
00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:27,760
leaders and tech leaders 
everywhere. 

62
00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,920
So when I left Amazon, I decided
to write a book about it. 

63
00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:34,080
Wrote a book and published just 
a couple months ago. 

64
00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,400
And here am I talking to you 
about this. 

65
00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:39,720
Wow. 
So I think it's very 

66
00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:41,680
interesting. 
You have been in some big tech 

67
00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:43,600
companies, Microsoft and Amazon,
right? 

68
00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,760
And you have gone to, you know, 
entrepreneurship yourself, you 

69
00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,480
know, founding companies over 
companies, 18 years, that's 

70
00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:51,600
pretty long time. 
And I'm sure because of that 

71
00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,080
experience, you understand the 
power of these kind of framework

72
00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:56,680
in such a big tech companies, 
right? 

73
00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:01,480
So PRFAQ framework maybe in a 
gist, tell us what is it all 

74
00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,760
about or what it is actually? 
Is it like a product management 

75
00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:06,800
tool? 
Is it a project management tool 

76
00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:11,360
or maybe something else? 
The PRFAQ is an innovation tool 

77
00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,240
and it stands for Press Release 
and Frequently Asked Questions. 

78
00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:17,959
And the press release is not 
really a marketing tool. 

79
00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:20,720
It is a tool to describe a 
vision. 

80
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,520
So you write a press release as 
if the future was already here. 

81
00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:29,000
So people reading this document 
can paint this vision and 

82
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:30,320
understand what they're trying 
to do. 

83
00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,920
And it's a six page document 
that has a specific way to 

84
00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:36,360
write. 
And there was a specific method 

85
00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,200
on how you create and how you 
use it as well. 

86
00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,640
So this combined makes up the 
PRFAQ system, if you will. 

87
00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,480
It was invented by Amazon 20 
years ago and it's used for all 

88
00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,160
kinds of innovations, not only 
product, but at Amazon it was 

89
00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,000
used for new businesses, 
policies, process changes to add

90
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,800
a new service, a program for 
customers or internal program 

91
00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:03,320
from ITHR or finance, all kinds 
of innovations that can be, you 

92
00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:05,800
know, explained the form of a 
vision and strategy. 

93
00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:10,840
So the way I like to say to 
simplify is that the PFAQ is a 

94
00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:16,000
tool for you to discover, debate
and decide on a vision and a 

95
00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,080
strategy for any kind of 
innovation. 

96
00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,080
Well, very interesting, you 
know, description about PRFAQ, 

97
00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:24,600
right? 
I think I remember the first 

98
00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:26,440
time I saw it, I don't know how 
many years ago. 

99
00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,240
It is kind of like different 
than, you know, typical 

100
00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,200
artifacts we create for you 
know, I don't know like creating

101
00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,240
innovations, creating product or
business process and things like

102
00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:36,920
that. 
One thing that you mentioned is 

103
00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,960
about, you know, vision, right? 
That's a forward-looking as if 

104
00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:44,320
it already happens today. 
So why should we think in terms 

105
00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:46,680
of future as if it is already 
happening today? 

106
00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,560
So what's the power in this kind
of explanation so? 

107
00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:53,600
The PRPQ we start from the 
outcome, right like you want to 

108
00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,480
describe what is the opportunity
that you are pursuing in terms 

109
00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,720
of the benefits for the customer
and for your business. 

110
00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,680
So you paint a vision the future
of we launched this product and 

111
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,520
customer are using and they are 
extracting this benefit and this

112
00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:10,840
value from the product and the 
business is generating this 

113
00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:12,520
benefit and this value for 
itself. 

114
00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,000
So we start from that point on 
and then you work backwards to 

115
00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,360
define the strategy and what you
need to make that a reality. 

116
00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:23,520
And part of the PRFEQ is also to
describe very clearly and 

117
00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:26,880
succinctly what are the problem 
that you're trying to solve, Who

118
00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:28,760
is the customer, What is the 
solution? 

119
00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,120
How are customers dealing with 
that problem today? 

120
00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:33,840
How are they going to find all 
those elements that are very 

121
00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:37,120
important to discuss before you 
start building or doing anything

122
00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,560
right? 
In a world of like, people that 

123
00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,520
are hungry to make things 
happen, they just jump and start

124
00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,760
executing without answering some
fundamental questions about 

125
00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:47,840
like, what exactly are we trying
to do here? 

126
00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,560
Wow. 
So I think yes, so many techies 

127
00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,560
including myself, sometimes we 
are so excited about the idea 

128
00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,120
and we just jump into 
implementation building and 

129
00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,160
share it later and think about, 
I don't know, all the different 

130
00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,720
details and outcomes. 
So building sometimes it can be 

131
00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,640
a very painful mistakes, right? 
So I think the most important 

132
00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:09,040
thing is to think about the 
outcome first. 

133
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:11,560
So you mentioned something about
working backwards. 

134
00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,280
So I think it is also very 
popular methodology from Amazon.

135
00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,160
Is PRFAQ part of Working 
backwards framework or is there 

136
00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:23,040
anything working in synergy with
other methodologies in Amazon? 

137
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,440
Working backwards is a practice 
within Amazon, right? 

138
00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:29,800
It's almost like a philosophy 
within Amazon. 

139
00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,160
PRFEQ is a manifestation of 
that. 

140
00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:35,640
It is very specific, right? 
There is a six page document. 

141
00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:38,280
There is very specific way that 
you format and style this 

142
00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,320
document, specific ways that you
write the content of the 

143
00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:45,960
document and how you use it. 
So you can think of PRFEQ as the

144
00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,560
concrete version of working 
backwards. 

145
00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:51,200
Working backwards as a 
philosophy really means 

146
00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,320
understanding your customer and 
what you're trying to achieve, 

147
00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,840
and working backwards from that.
PRFAQ is one way of doing that. 

148
00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,040
So you mentioned you have seen 
the power of this framework and 

149
00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:04,640
you fell in love with it. 
Why writing a book about it? 

150
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:07,640
So is there something that you 
want to teach to the people 

151
00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:09,680
outside of the, you know, 
Amazon? 

152
00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:12,920
I think the important thing is 
to imagine like what is the 

153
00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,000
world without the PRFAQ? 
And one of the problems that we 

154
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,960
have without the PRFAQ. 
So what you often have is either

155
00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,840
people that come up with a 
solution for something and start

156
00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:27,560
building immediately without 
questioning or like aligning 

157
00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:31,920
people around them or forcing 
alignment in a way that is not 

158
00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:34,799
natural. 
Or you have people that create 

159
00:08:34,799 --> 00:08:37,480
like Google Slides and 
presentations, right? 

160
00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:39,960
And try to tell the story of a 
vision and a strategy. 

161
00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:45,800
And that is always a weak way of
presenting a vision strategy 

162
00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,720
because you know, when you're 
doing a presentation, sometimes 

163
00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:53,400
the charisma of the person or 
the enthusiasm of the person 

164
00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:57,920
clouds people vision of like 
what this should really be, 

165
00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,640
right? 
And challenge people in terms of

166
00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,960
authority or seniority that they
don't feel comfortable 

167
00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,160
challenging. 
So you have to be careful with 

168
00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:09,760
those systems of creating new 
things, right? 

169
00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:14,680
The PRPQ avoids all this because
first is a written document, and

170
00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:17,840
when you're writing, you really 
think very deeply about what 

171
00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:20,080
you're writing. 
So it's not unusual for you to 

172
00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,760
start writing something and 
pause and realize, oh, wait a 

173
00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,560
second, I actually don't 
understand this well enough. 

174
00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:29,520
Let me go do some more in 
understanding of the problem or 

175
00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,920
the solution or the technology 
or the market or the customer or

176
00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,120
whatever I need to understand so
that I can write a paragraph 

177
00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:38,640
about it, right? 
That is very useful. 

178
00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,080
You don't need that when you do 
PowerPoint, you just put a 

179
00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,320
statement on a PowerPoint and 
like hope for the best to 

180
00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:47,800
writing is a form of thinking, 
if you will. 

181
00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,080
The other aspect of that is as 
you write this, you become 

182
00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,760
really good at articulating an 
idea because your brain like 

183
00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,120
absorbs and recalled information
much better. 

184
00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,280
Not only that, but the people 
reading it are able to provide 

185
00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,960
much richer feedback on what 
you're doing right versus trying

186
00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,480
to interrupt you while you're 
giving a presentation using 

187
00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,240
slides or whatever, right, or a 
diagram or anything else. 

188
00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:18,280
So it helps both sides of the 
equation, the people coming up 

189
00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,280
with the idea and the people and
the people providing feedback on

190
00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:24,240
that idea as well. 
There is one more element, which

191
00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:31,320
is often we create PRDS or many 
artifacts as a way to sell it or

192
00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:33,400
to get buy in from people into 
that. 

193
00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,040
PRPQ is the opposite of that. 
You're pulling people into 

194
00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,480
collaborating with Theo to 
create this document because 

195
00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,200
you're not the expert on 
everything and you're going to 

196
00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,800
need many different sides and 
many different angles to look at

197
00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,880
this document and help you fill 
the gaps on what you don't 

198
00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,640
really understand. 
Well, I think that's the first 

199
00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:57,280
very visible distinction, right?
So, so many people, I'm also 

200
00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,240
trained in the industry, you 
know, seeing people presenting 

201
00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,520
new ideas by using slides, you 
know, PowerPoint, Google Slides,

202
00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,720
whatever that is, right? 
And it depends on the presenter 

203
00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,360
or maybe the, I don't know, the 
product owner or the owner of 

204
00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,280
the initiative to actually 
explain what it is all about. 

205
00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:16,320
And yeah, I mean, we share the 
slides, but some people might 

206
00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:17,720
have different interpretation, 
right? 

207
00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,840
Because slides typically maybe 
full of visuals and short text, 

208
00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:22,080
right? 
I think the first key 

209
00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:26,120
distinction I can see is that 
the PRFAQ is a written document.

210
00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,560
You've mentioned 6 pages long. 
So that means it's kind of like 

211
00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:32,440
full of narration, right? 
So people can follow the thought

212
00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:34,880
process or maybe there are 
certain aspects that we will 

213
00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:36,960
cover shortly. 
So I think thanks for pointing 

214
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,560
that. 
So one thing also, it seems like

215
00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:43,360
not many people adopted like 
other, you know, big tech giants

216
00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:47,760
framework things like OK, R or 
maybe PRD or maybe, I don't 

217
00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:51,360
know, MVP canvas and all that. 
So why is it not the case for 

218
00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,360
PRFAQ? 
Yeah. 

219
00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,040
So I love that you mentioned OK 
R, right. 

220
00:11:56,560 --> 00:11:58,920
OK R is somewhat new. 
Like it's not that old. 

221
00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,600
If you think about it, companies
really started adopting OK Rs 

222
00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,360
over the last 10 years or so, 
even less than that. 

223
00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,120
But OK Rs have been around for 
more than 20 years. 

224
00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,400
Like Intel invented OK Rs in the
90s, right. 

225
00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,400
And Google's to adopted OK Rs in
98 when it was formed. 

226
00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:21,080
So we took into 2015 or so for 
people to really start adopting 

227
00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,960
it, and that was because of some
people putting YouTube videos, 

228
00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,520
some people writing books about 
it, more people writing 

229
00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,360
articles, people learning about 
it and like just adopting the 

230
00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:34,280
framework. 
I think PRFAQ has been behind 

231
00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:37,840
because there hasn't been enough
content out there or 

232
00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,280
explanations out there of what 
it is, when to use it, how to 

233
00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,880
use it, and what not to use it 
for, right? 

234
00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,600
So this is just the beginning of
the PRPQ journey. 

235
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,600
If you look for PRPQ content, 
most of the content has been 

236
00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,640
published in the last 2-3 years 
and you know it's picking up 

237
00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:56,840
steam, It's slow and it's going 
to take time. 

238
00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:01,360
But the other aspect of it is 
PRPQ is a written document and a

239
00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:05,400
lot of people feel uncomfortable
saying I'm not a good writer so 

240
00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:09,840
I can't write 1. 
And I understand that, but it's 

241
00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:13,920
not true because most people can
write APRFEQ. 

242
00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,040
There is a formula to write a 
PRFEQ, right? 

243
00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,400
As long as you write using this 
formula, you're going to get a 

244
00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,360
level of result you can get 
better at. 

245
00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,680
You can be really good at it, 
but you don't need to be a good 

246
00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:29,360
writer to get started. 
You just need to get started to 

247
00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:31,680
get started. 
And the first few times that you

248
00:13:31,680 --> 00:13:33,640
do, it is probably not going to 
be great. 

249
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:35,960
So take your time to learn how 
to do it. 

250
00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,520
The other resistance that I seen
on people not adopting PRPQ is 

251
00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:42,840
that they believe people are not
going to want to read it. 

252
00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:48,320
And that is true if you live in 
an environment of PowerPoint and

253
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:49,760
people don't want to read 
anything. 

254
00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:54,080
But once they start seeing the 
value of reading or the pre 

255
00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:57,760
reading of PRPQ before 
discussing a meeting, they start

256
00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:00,480
to realize oh this is very 
valuable actually because 

257
00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:02,720
everyone is talking about the 
same thing. 

258
00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:06,480
Versus you know three people in 
a meeting been discussing one 

259
00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,640
topic with the 4th person not 
realize that they miss an 

260
00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:14,080
important e-mail or a previous 
meeting and being completely 

261
00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:15,120
lost. 
Right? 

262
00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,800
The PRFAQ elevates everyone to 
the same context. 

263
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:20,440
Yeah. 
So thanks for mentioning some of

264
00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:23,800
the common resistances that 
people might have in terms of 

265
00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,800
PRFAQ. 
Sometimes I think, I don't know,

266
00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,440
I, I used to work in a startup 
world, you know, many people 

267
00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:31,240
have this bias for action, 
right? 

268
00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:33,040
They just want to execute, 
execute, execute. 

269
00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,880
Maybe, I don't know, the leaders
have a bright idea in their 

270
00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:37,800
mind, right? 
And they just want to execute it

271
00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,000
and, you know, fill in the 
blanks, so to speak, for the 

272
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,560
other people. 
So I think writing a document, 

273
00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,160
first of all, some people might 
think, oh, I need to spend some 

274
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,560
more time to write it. 
Or for readers, they also need 

275
00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:49,720
to spend more time to read about
it. 

276
00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,200
So what is your take about this,
right? 

277
00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:55,200
For people who are still 
thinking that maybe doing the 

278
00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,840
action and speed of execution 
matters most, than you know, 

279
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:00,400
writing these kind of stuff 
list. 

280
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:04,000
That's a great question. 
You know, what you have to look 

281
00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,640
at is the total length of a 
project, not any single 

282
00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:09,920
activity, right? 
And not only the total length of

283
00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:13,400
the project, the impact and the 
result of the project for the 

284
00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:16,360
business. 
So who cares if you ship 

285
00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:19,760
something really fast, but like 
your users didn't care, it 

286
00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,360
didn't deliver any value to your
business, maybe even created 

287
00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:24,320
more risk for your business, 
right? 

288
00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:26,160
That's not a good outcome at 
all. 

289
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:30,560
So what I say about the PRFAQ 
is, yes, it takes a week or two 

290
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:35,600
for a normal size project to 
write and use the PRFAQ. 

291
00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,920
What that going to do is, is 
going to reduce more than the 

292
00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:43,480
amount invested, the total 
length of the project, because 

293
00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,320
there was going to be fewer 
misalignment, fewer needs for 

294
00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:48,640
coordination. 
People are going to be able to 

295
00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:51,600
make decisions independently 
because they understand the 

296
00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,920
vision and the strategy without 
having to sync all the time. 

297
00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,840
There's going to be fewer emails
going around, so the project is 

298
00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,840
going to move faster with a 
PRFEQ, even though in the 

299
00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:03,480
beginning is going to feel like 
this is slow. 

300
00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:05,320
Let's stop this. 
Let's just start building. 

301
00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,920
But you've been there, like all 
of us have been to projects that

302
00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:11,640
were like nightmarish like that.
No one agrees. 

303
00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,640
Like what exactly are we doing? 
Why we're doing, why we're doing

304
00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:17,560
this way? 
So the PRTQ avoids a lot of 

305
00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:18,840
that. 
It doesn't eliminate. 

306
00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,760
It's important to say that there
is no guarantee that a project 

307
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:24,880
is going to be successful, but 
it reduces the chance of 

308
00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,880
failure, at least on the most 
basic cases. 

309
00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,600
So I think we have built 
people's anticipation to learn 

310
00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,680
about this PRFAQ. 
So let's dive deep into what is 

311
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:38,120
PRFAQ like you mentioned, right?
It's not just like some, you 

312
00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:41,360
know, 6 page long document that 
people can just write in any 

313
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,680
kind of a way. 
So I think there's a certain 

314
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,560
methodology, there's a certain 
constraints actually that is 

315
00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:48,200
being put in as part of the 
framework. 

316
00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,960
So maybe let's start, you know 
what are the some important 

317
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,080
stuffs the main sections of 
PRFAQ so that we can actually 

318
00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,480
understand it better. 
So let's start with the document

319
00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,280
artifact, right? 
Or the PRFQ template. 

320
00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:02,840
That's how it's called by some 
people. 

321
00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,400
It's 6 pages long, and it has 
three sections. 

322
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,280
The first section is the press 
release, which is the first 

323
00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,520
page. 
The second section is the 

324
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,720
customer FAQs, which is the 
second page. 

325
00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:20,079
And then you have 4 pages of 
internal FAQs, and the first two

326
00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:23,280
sections, the press release and 
the customer FAQs. 

327
00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:27,560
You write as if the future is 
already here, right? 

328
00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:29,960
You're right in the present 
tense, as if the product or the 

329
00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,400
program or the business already 
exists. 

330
00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:37,440
So you're painting a picture of 
a future state that you wish it 

331
00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:41,680
was true. 
And before internal FAQ pages, 

332
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,480
you write in the present tense 
with the knowledge that you have

333
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:48,040
today, just like you would write
any kind of business document, 

334
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,040
right? 
And you really describe several 

335
00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:55,480
elements of the idea, which is 
the problem, the solution, the 

336
00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:00,040
go to market, the risks, the 
mitigations, the feasibility 

337
00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,600
aspects of this innovation. 
Like do you need some data? 

338
00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:05,880
Do you need some APIs? 
Do you need some technology to 

339
00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:08,360
be tested? 
The viability, which is the 

340
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:13,600
financial aspect, the cost, the 
operational, the maintenance, 

341
00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,600
it's all part of the viability. 
You also talk about the volume, 

342
00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,680
which is very important, right? 
Like you want to create 

343
00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,680
something that is of value for a
customer and a value for your 

344
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,240
business. 
So you have to make sure that it

345
00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:27,320
is 2 things are coming together 
nicely. 

346
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:29,600
It can be just something that is
great for the customer, but 

347
00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:31,920
they're for the business or 
great for the business and 

348
00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,440
terrible for the customer. 
So that all gets included in the

349
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:39,680
internal FAQ. 
You have also an optional 

350
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,600
appendix. 
In the appendix you might 

351
00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:47,120
include a few elements like 
financial modeling, wireframes, 

352
00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:50,840
or a diagram or some user 
research that you've done. 

353
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,800
But you have to be very careful 
because these things are magnets

354
00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,480
for discussions, right? 
And what you really want people 

355
00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:02,080
discussing is the first 6 pages,
which represents the vision and 

356
00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:04,680
the strategy, not the tactics or
the plan. 

357
00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,320
So after you mentioned all of 
this, right, it seems like it 

358
00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,360
covers a lot of ground, right? 
So in terms of, you know, the 

359
00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:14,920
customer, the problem, right, 
the value, the feasibility, the 

360
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,000
financial aspect and things like
that, right? 

361
00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,120
Although there are main sections
that are kind of like advocated,

362
00:19:20,120 --> 00:19:24,080
right, the PR, right, the press 
release and then the customer 

363
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:27,640
FAQ and then the internal FAQ 
with the optional appendix. 

364
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,160
So it seems like it covers a 
lot, 6 page. 

365
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,520
How to fit all of them in? 
You know, such A to me, such a 

366
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,560
short document for covering a 
lot of grounds. 

367
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,520
Yeah, 6 pages is ideal because 
it takes a person usually 20 

368
00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:45,640
minutes to read 6 pages. 
And what happens is if you have 

369
00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,600
a one hour meeting, you can ask 
everyone to read the six pages 

370
00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,200
during the 1st 20 minutes, and 
then you have 40 minutes to 

371
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,880
debate and to discuss and to the
site. 

372
00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:58,200
And that's a very powerful 
formula. 

373
00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:02,280
It's a good combo. 
So if you do it shorter, you're 

374
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,800
probably not going to be able to
capture everything that you 

375
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,440
want. 
If you do it longer, then you 

376
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,400
become sloppy, right? 
You might decide to include too 

377
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,640
much information. 
The clicks page put a constraint

378
00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,600
on what you write so that you're
really focusing on what matter 

379
00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:21,280
for that conversation. 
What I say is the PRPQ is a tool

380
00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:24,000
for you to decide if you should 
do a project or not. 

381
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:28,120
So it's what you do before they 
one of the project, right? 

382
00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,040
And for that to be a good 
conversation, you should not be 

383
00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:34,000
talking about the details. 
You should be talking about the 

384
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,600
big picture. 
The details is whence you start 

385
00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:40,240
a project, when the project gets
funding or green lighted to go 

386
00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:42,720
ahead and start, right? 
And then you can do the full 

387
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,400
planning of the tactics and the 
dates and the road map and 

388
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,080
everything else. 
But the PRVQ really should be 

389
00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,440
focused on the high level 
elements of vision and strategy 

390
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,600
and you focus on that. 
So you can fit that in six 

391
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:55,720
pages. 
It's possible. 

392
00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,920
I've done many times. 
I've seen many PRVQS that do 

393
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:00,600
that. 
Sometimes it's, it's hard. 

394
00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:02,920
And then you have to decide what
to cut, right. 

395
00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:05,920
What is not important for us to 
be deciding right now that would

396
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:10,760
not have an impact in our 
ability to decide or not to do 

397
00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:13,760
this project? 
Right, thanks for clarifying the

398
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:16,280
emphasis, right? 
It's actually to make decision, 

399
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:18,040
right? 
To do the, you know, decision 

400
00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:20,160
making. 
So it should cover just the high

401
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,000
level thing, not the Super 
detail stuff, because otherwise 

402
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,200
6 page won't fit. 
And I think there's another 

403
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,560
powerful thing that I also 
learned when reading the book, 

404
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:29,320
right? 
This thing called the precise 

405
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:31,640
writing. 
So for you to actually, you 

406
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,880
know, write in a short, concise 
manner, definitely they are 

407
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,600
techniques, right? 
So I think in your book you 

408
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:40,040
mentioned this thing called 
precise writing, which I think 

409
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,720
is kind of like the adopted way 
of writing in Amazon. 

410
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,080
So tell us what is precise 
writing? 

411
00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,520
Because I really think this is 1
powerful thing that anyone can 

412
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,880
do in terms of improving their 
writing. 

413
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,200
Yes, I agree with you. 
It's it's very important. 

414
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:57,280
It's not only applicable to 
PRFQ. 

415
00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,520
Even if you write emails or 
Slack messages or PRDS or any 

416
00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:03,920
other kind of document, you 
should be using precise writing,

417
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:05,720
full stop. 
It's that important. 

418
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:10,760
So let's define precisely in 
writing and what is not, right? 

419
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,280
So there is two other types of 
writing that you can imagine. 1 

420
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,800
is that marketing, sales 
language, way of writing. 

421
00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:21,560
We are the best, we're going to 
build the fastest. 

422
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,880
And everything feels like very 
abstract, like not very 

423
00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:29,240
specific. 
And when you read content like 

424
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,560
that, at the end, you feel like,
I think I understand, but I'm 

425
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,920
not sure if I understand or not.
And like, I'm not sure I believe

426
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,600
it or not. 
So end up being in that world. 

427
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:43,440
The other extreme is technical 
writing, right? 

428
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,440
So when you read those white 
papers and like explaining very 

429
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:50,160
details of the technology, but 
it misses the point of like the 

430
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:54,520
story of the user and how this 
is good for them and how they're

431
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,960
going to interact with it and 
why this is going to be valuable

432
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,000
for the business as well. 
So precise writing is what 

433
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,640
happens in between. 
So you use the right elements of

434
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:09,120
data with the right elements of 
storytelling and you combine 

435
00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,600
that in a way of writing that 
people can resonate with. 

436
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:14,240
They can understand what they 
are talking about. 

437
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,560
South in the book, for example, 
I give an example of solar 

438
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,120
panels. 
You can talk about solar panels 

439
00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:24,680
in a very scientific way, right?
The how many watts per hour they

440
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:28,920
can generate per square meter of
surface area depending on the 

441
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:30,680
latitude of the house, yada, 
yada. 

442
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:34,520
That's very scientific, very 
specific and technical, right? 

443
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,320
Or you can write like solar 
panels are great for the 

444
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,640
environment and they are 
wonderful and everyone wants to 

445
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:44,200
buy one and like, yeah, OK, like
help me make business decisions 

446
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:46,640
here, right? 
The precise writing is in the 

447
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:52,280
middle is when you explain the 
impact of solar power in the 

448
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,600
livelihood of someone, right? 
How much money are they going to

449
00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:58,240
save on their house? 
How much is going to cost for 

450
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,560
them? 
How much energy they can create 

451
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,120
out of their monthly expend from
solar powers? 

452
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,880
Like that's, that's the middle 
point, right? 

453
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,240
And in the book I have a whole 
chapter dedicated to precise 

454
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,320
writing so people can grasp what
it is. 

455
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,080
The other aspect of precise 
writing that is very important 

456
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:19,080
is to make things clear. 
So you avoid abbreviations, the 

457
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:22,000
jargons. 
You explain concepts in simple 

458
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,520
terms. 
You make it concise because very

459
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,000
long sentences are very hard for
people to read. 

460
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,280
So you eliminate all the 
redundancy on the sentences to 

461
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,320
make it really really concise 
and clear for people to read. 

462
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:36,240
Yeah. 
So I think people should learn 

463
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,920
about this precise writing 
because just through the 

464
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,360
examples you mentioned in the 
book, right, you know, the 

465
00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:44,920
paragraphs, the sentences, I can
really see the power of if 

466
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,600
people try to adopt it in their 
writing, it will be more 

467
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,560
powerful. 
So things like, yeah, remove 

468
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,520
fluffy words, remove weak terms,
those kind of stuff. 

469
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:56,160
And also use something that is 
more specific, like what you 

470
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:57,920
mentioned, right? 
Not something like, OK, this 

471
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:00,920
thing is the coolest thing ever.
Like how cool, How do you 

472
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:03,760
describe the cool thing, right. 
So I think those kind of things 

473
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,600
definitely is part of the 
precise writing that should be 

474
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:10,680
adopted in PRFAQ, right? 
And the other thing is, I think 

475
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,720
because of all these so-called 
methodologies and maybe I don't 

476
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,320
know like the way that you write
the PRFAQ, right, it has to be 

477
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:22,040
following a certain, if not to 
say strict guidelines. 

478
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:26,440
So why is such a strict way of 
writing the document right? 

479
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,560
Is it something for consistency 
standardization or is it 

480
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,000
something else? 
Yeah, like I said, it's for 

481
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,400
consistency, right, because you 
are helping the reader. 

482
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,240
If your organization is going to
adopt PRV kiln, people are going

483
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,040
to feel more comfortable if from
document to document, it follows

484
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,920
the same pattern, right, in the 
same style of writing. 

485
00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:47,720
And that helps you consume the 
information fast. 

486
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:51,880
So you can imagine like someone 
that has a artifact on their 

487
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:55,680
organization that has a template
at the top that describe, I 

488
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,440
don't know, cost and timeline 
and everything. 

489
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,120
And like every document that 
they use has that thing plate on

490
00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:04,960
the top that makes it easier for
anyone in that organization to 

491
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,000
see one of those documents and 
find exactly what they're 

492
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,840
looking for. 
So part of the structure of the 

493
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,400
PRFEQ is to help you with that, 
right? 

494
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:16,240
Like how can I absorb the 
information correctly and fast 

495
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:20,280
so I can help provide feedback 
and make decisions? 

496
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,560
Totally makes sense, right? 
So I think standardization, 

497
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,360
because I've read so many 
documents as well, and if 

498
00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:29,680
different authors write 
differently in a different kind 

499
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,160
of structure, I think it's gonna
be quite difficult to actually 

500
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,040
compare one against the other. 
That's the first thing. 

501
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,640
And second thing is we always 
have to switch the context in 

502
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,400
our mind how to interpret a 
document that you read. 

503
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,640
So I think it's really powerful 
structure. 

504
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,680
So that's why I think I 
understand why it has these 

505
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,920
three main sections, the PR 
press release, the customer FAQ,

506
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,760
and the Internet FAQ. 
Let's maybe dive into each of 

507
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:54,720
them. 
The press release, are you 

508
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,520
referring press release 
something like, you know, we see

509
00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,800
in all these TechCrunch blocks 
or maybe in the news whenever 

510
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,280
people, you know, release 
something, they want to do. 

511
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,440
This press release, is it 
actually the same? 

512
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,920
It is the same, but it's not. 
So it is the same in the context

513
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,720
that it should read like a press
release that you would send to 

514
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,280
the press. 
However, on the PRFEQ, the press

515
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:18,720
release has a very specific 
structure as well. 

516
00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:22,680
It has seven paragraphs that 
you're writing in a very 

517
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,920
specific way. 
So it makes it easy for even 

518
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:28,320
someone who never wrote a PRFEQA
press release to write a press 

519
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,720
release. 
And it tells the story started 

520
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,360
from the problem. 
The solution includes some 

521
00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:37,640
fictional quotes from the team 
and fictional quotes from the 

522
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,760
customer, includes an 
explanation of how to get 

523
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,280
started, includes an explanation
or how it works, all very 

524
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,240
briefly, right? 
So what I say is the press 

525
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:52,440
release is to prime everyone 
reading the document on what's 

526
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,840
to come. 
So when you start reading the 

527
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,760
rest of the document, you are 
ready in a state of mind that 

528
00:27:57,760 --> 00:27:59,840
you say like, oh, I know what 
we're talking about. 

529
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:05,600
So you start evaluating each of 
the FAQ section in a better 

530
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,760
state. 
The other thing that I was going

531
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,640
to say about the press release 
is that is not a marketing tool.

532
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,080
And I mentioned that in the 
beginning of the podcast. 

533
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:19,040
You never going to send this to 
the press ever. 

534
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:23,880
It's a confidential product 
document or a business document.

535
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:26,320
So you keep within the 
organization. 

536
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,120
So you're happy to write 
whatever you think it's 

537
00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:33,320
important to tell that story. 
Yeah, I think it's important not

538
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,560
to leak this because otherwise 
people will think you are 

539
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:37,360
releasing something concrete, 
right? 

540
00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:41,000
So what you mentioned about 
press release, right, as if like

541
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,200
you're sending it to the press. 
I think every time I read this 

542
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,160
press release, that's the this 
definite structure that you just

543
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,760
mentioned, right? 
So a company is releasing 

544
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:51,400
something, there's a problem, 
right? 

545
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,520
And there are quotes as well. 
Why do you think that this kind 

546
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,760
of powerful structure, right? 
Like people are using it all the

547
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:01,280
time to do press release? 
Why including all these aspects 

548
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,480
in a press release, actually? 
To write the book, I spent some 

549
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,040
time studying press releases and
where it came from and why it 

550
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,400
became so powerful. 
The interesting thing about 

551
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:15,040
press release is that it's a 
standard document or a standard 

552
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:19,920
format adopted by the press and 
by comms team, marketing 

553
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,360
communication team within 
organizations, so they can 

554
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,240
quickly share information with 
each other, right? 

555
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,920
So if I want to tell a story of 
a crisis of a new product launch

556
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,480
or a a new hire in my 
organization and I send a press 

557
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,760
release to a journalist, like 
I'm putting in a format, the 

558
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:40,400
journalists know how to consume 
really quickly because it's 

559
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:43,000
going to contain all the key 
informations that a journalist 

560
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,960
needs. 
So that's why Amazon adopted as 

561
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,760
well, why we invented something 
that already was very powerful 

562
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,880
in a way to capture stories 
about a new product or a new 

563
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,560
business or a change. 
Yeah. 

564
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,880
So indeed, it's really powerful 
after I read it in your chapter,

565
00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:01,760
right? 
So I think why it all makes 

566
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,920
sense that adopting press 
release kind of structure way of

567
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:07,200
writing. 
And I think one key aspect about

568
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,920
this PR is as well the 
narration, right? 

569
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,160
So the storytelling aspect of 
it. 

570
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:16,400
So tell us why we have to adopt 
storytelling narration instead 

571
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,040
of other, you know, descriptive 
manner, I guess. 

572
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,480
The storytelling helps with many
aspects. 

573
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,120
One that we talked about is like
to think clearly. 

574
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,120
Like it's really hard for us to 
tell a story if the story is not

575
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,240
coherent. 
And if you're going to talk 

576
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,000
about a new product and you 
can't tell a coherent story 

577
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,800
about the new product is a 
strong signal there is something

578
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:40,080
off here, right? 
More likely than not is not that

579
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,560
you are not a good storyteller, 
is that this product doesn't 

580
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:45,720
have a good story. 
So you should go back to the 

581
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,440
drawing board and think like, 
are we actually solving a real 

582
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,080
customer problem that we talk 
with customers and we really 

583
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,640
understand is our solution 
adequate to solve that problem? 

584
00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,840
Because if you're writing a 
story in a format of a press 

585
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,560
release and it doesn't feel 
coherent, there is something 

586
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:04,840
off. 
So you need to look at it from 

587
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,920
that perspective. 
And as such is a powerful tool 

588
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:13,360
to help you think and identify 
the gaps on what you're trying 

589
00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:16,560
to do right. 
And that alone adds a lot of 

590
00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:20,440
volume to the PRPQ, creates a 
lot of value by the PRFAQ. 

591
00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,200
So I think, yeah, very powerful 
storytelling format. 

592
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:26,920
I think it's not just in writing
PRFAQI think in your 

593
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:30,080
presentation in explaining 
something to the people so that 

594
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:33,520
they can get the coherent aspect
that you mentioned right or what

595
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:36,200
you're trying to convey. 
I think storytelling seems like 

596
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,200
everyone is adopting it, movies,
writing documents, books, 

597
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:40,800
whatever that is. 
I think it's really powerful 

598
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:44,120
concept. 
So I think in a press release we

599
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:45,600
kind of like understand what 
should happen. 

600
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,480
I think the other aspect of 
press release that I find can be

601
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:52,280
really useful is the, you know, 
building the vision, you know, 

602
00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,600
trying to build the anticipation
of, you know, releasing 

603
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,200
something, right? 
I think people can get excited 

604
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,200
just by reading press release. 
I think that's one aspect that I

605
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,640
feel can be very useful as well.
So the other aspect, the next 

606
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:09,120
section is the customer FAQ. 
I think if I read press release,

607
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:13,000
sometimes it is not followed by 
FAQs in the typical press 

608
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,520
release. 
Why do we create this customers 

609
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,040
FAQ which typically is mentioned
in the website or somewhere, 

610
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:21,200
right? 
So why putting a customer FAQ as

611
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:23,480
part of the document the 
customer? 

612
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,840
FAQ helps define the strategy 
that you're going after, right? 

613
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,200
So you can imagine a customer 
FAQ is how much is this going to

614
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,440
cost? 
Can I import my data? 

615
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:34,360
I'm like, where do I get 
started? 

616
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,680
And as you answer those 
questions, it's useful for the 

617
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,600
team that's going to be involved
in building it to understand 

618
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,200
what exactly we are building 
because pricing, for example, 

619
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:49,400
can affect the viability or the 
feasibility of a project. 

620
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,120
If you say like this product is 
going to be free to our users, 

621
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,520
like everyone is going to think 
differently than it's going to 

622
00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,280
cost $3 a month. 
And even the fact that you say 

623
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,400
it's going to cost $2.00 a 
month, immediately you're going 

624
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,600
to get your engineering team and
your UX team and your product 

625
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:07,520
team thinking about, all right, 
so you need to have billing, so 

626
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,480
you need to accept credit card 
or payment. 

627
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:11,160
So you need to build this whole 
thing. 

628
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:17,240
So it's helping inform people on
elements of this strategy and 

629
00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:21,320
how they need to think about 
this new project, this new 

630
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,720
initiative. 
So when you paint this FAQ 

631
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:28,760
right, do you actually involve 
real potential customers or is 

632
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:32,000
it like the owner of the 
initiatives place the customers 

633
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:33,920
had? 
Is there a better way of coming 

634
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,440
up with these FAQs? 
You involve the customers in the

635
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:39,200
sense that you should be talking
to them. 

636
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:41,360
They're not going to be reading 
the document. 

637
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,440
You might not even be telling 
them exactly what you're doing, 

638
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,880
but you need to learn from them 
about their problem, about how 

639
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:50,880
they are solving today, about 
how they found the solution 

640
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:54,160
today, what it would take for 
them to move from one solution 

641
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,160
to another solution. 
What is not satisfying them 

642
00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:59,000
about how they are solving it 
today. 

643
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,920
There's many things there that 
I'm not going to elaborate 

644
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,440
everything here. 
The book includes a lot of that,

645
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,320
so that is the extent that you 
talk with customers. 

646
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,960
They should not be reading your 
PRFAQ the same way customers 

647
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,679
should not be reading your PRDS 
or any other confidential 

648
00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:15,199
document within the 
organization. 

649
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:17,480
Yeah. 
So typically in the product 

650
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,639
world, right, people use these 
persona or jobs to be done. 

651
00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:23,920
In your book, you may actually 
mention that you prefer using 

652
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,239
jobs to be done framework 
instead of, you know, using 

653
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:28,639
personas. 
So maybe briefly tell us why is 

654
00:34:28,639 --> 00:34:31,480
the case? 
Yeah, this is this is a longer 

655
00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:33,239
conversation. 
We will need a whole podcast 

656
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:37,800
about this, right? 
But Personas was invented maybe 

657
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:40,600
40 or 50 years ago, I don't know
how long ago. 

658
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:43,600
And it was mostly a marketing 
tool, right? 

659
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:47,760
So you could understand how to 
create campaigns that target 

660
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,560
certain traits of a person, 
right? 

661
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:54,320
Like a married man or like a 
child who lives in this 

662
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,480
neighborhood. 
And it's slowly Personas made it

663
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:00,920
their way into product, right? 
Because we had no other tools of

664
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:04,000
the way things. 
So it's not unusual for UX 

665
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,920
teams, for product managers to 
establish some personas for the 

666
00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:10,720
product they're building and 
then from there trying to define

667
00:35:10,720 --> 00:35:12,560
the features they're going to 
build. 

668
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:16,240
I think that's backwards, right?
The best approach, and by the 

669
00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:18,800
way, this is what Jobs to be 
Done has been discussed by 

670
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,600
Peyton Christensen and Tony 
Warwick and many people who 

671
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:24,200
wrote books about Jobs to be 
Done. 

672
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:27,360
There was excellent books out 
there, which is, it doesn't 

673
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:30,360
matter who your customer is, 
what matters is what they're 

674
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:34,000
trying to do, right? 
If you're trying to hang A-frame

675
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:38,040
to the wall, just to give a very
typical example, like it doesn't

676
00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:41,920
matter any of the other elements
of and attributes of your life, 

677
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,200
what we care is you're trying to
hang A-frame to the wall. 

678
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:51,040
Can we solve the problem with a 
drill and hooks or with stick 

679
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,120
tapes or whatever? 
Right. 

680
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:57,480
So if your product is about 
that, you're defining the job 

681
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,640
should be done, which is what 
the customer is trying to do and

682
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:02,320
the solution that you're going 
to provide to that. 

683
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:05,120
And the framework is wonderful. 
I really think it's great. 

684
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:08,000
It's fantastic. 
It doesn't address everything. 

685
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,360
You know, there is some gaps 
there around desirability for 

686
00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:13,640
some products. 
It's a little bit harder to be 

687
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:15,720
very clear on how you use jobs 
to be done. 

688
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:18,680
But in general, I think it's a 
much better place for product 

689
00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:21,960
teams that are considering 
creating something new to start 

690
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,560
from, or programs or services or
businesses. 

691
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:26,920
Right. 
Thanks for clarifying that. 

692
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:29,320
So I think we can move to the 
next section, right. 

693
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:32,320
So again, just to recap, 
customer focused FAQ, right, 

694
00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:34,920
Maybe it's like 6-8 FAQs that 
you include there. 

695
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:38,160
It's something that a 
hypothetical customer would ask 

696
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:39,840
if they read your press release,
right? 

697
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,600
So the first press release and 
customer FAQ, they kind of 

698
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:46,280
integrate it and both are kind 
of like future forward-looking, 

699
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,320
right? 
The next section is internal 

700
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,280
FAQs and you mentioned this is 
not necessarily forward-looking.

701
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:54,880
So tell us why? 
What is this internal only FAQ? 

702
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:58,720
I mean in the the main subject 
itself is kind of like weird 

703
00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:00,880
right? 
Why you built an FAQ for 

704
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:02,960
internal teams? 
Yeah. 

705
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:05,880
So the internal FAQ is the most 
important part of the PRFAQ. 

706
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:10,600
And actually when you start 
writing APRFAQ, you start from 

707
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:12,680
the internal FAQ. 
You don't start from the press 

708
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:15,840
release and customer FAQ, you 
start from the internal FAQ 

709
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:18,080
first. 
So it's kind of odd because you 

710
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:21,280
start from the internal FAQ 
first, then you write your 

711
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:25,640
customer FAQ, then last you 
write the the the press release.

712
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,560
But of course you read it from 
top to bottom when you are 

713
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,240
providing feedback to someone 
else's PRFAQ. 

714
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:36,920
The internal FAQ is a way to 
explain strategy in terms of the

715
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:42,080
feasibility, the viability, the 
usability, and the value that 

716
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:45,320
you are creating. 
So you're answering questions 

717
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,280
for the team as if the questions
were being asked by the team. 

718
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:51,160
That's why it's called internal 
FAQ. 

719
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:54,800
So you can imagine like maybe 
your manager comes to you and 

720
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:57,320
it's like, what problem are we 
trying to solve? 

721
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:00,240
Well, that's a great question to
include on the internal FAQ. 

722
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,760
So, and actually it's my, my 
recommended first question that 

723
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,400
people should answer, like what 
problem are we trying to solve? 

724
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:09,440
And then you answer like this is
the problem that we're trying to

725
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:10,840
solve. 
You don't talk about the 

726
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,040
solution, you talk about the 
customer problem. 

727
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:15,760
Like customers are trying to 
hang frames to the wall. 

728
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:17,920
That's the problem that we're 
trying to solve. 

729
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,640
So you focus on that and then 
you include several questions. 

730
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:26,680
It can be anywhere from 12 to 18
to 20 questions that help people

731
00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:28,600
understand all these elements, 
right? 

732
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:32,360
Like what are we trying to do, 
why we're trying to do, what is 

733
00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:34,040
the problem? 
What is the solution? 

734
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,960
How customers going to find it? 
What have we done so far? 

735
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,880
How do we know this is true? 
Like all those kind of 

736
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:41,440
questions. 
And in the book, I have more 

737
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:44,200
than 60 questions that people 
can pick and choose from. 

738
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:46,200
And of course, at the end of the
day, you're going to have to 

739
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,840
adapt to your needs, right? 
There's going to be things that 

740
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:51,120
are very specific to your 
organization. 

741
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:54,600
So it could be that you're 
replacing an existing solution 

742
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:56,360
within your organization 
already. 

743
00:38:56,720 --> 00:39:00,040
So you might need to have an 
internal FAQ to explain like how

744
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:03,040
we're going to replace and 
migrate the data from X to Z, 

745
00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:04,560
right? 
You don't need to go into the 

746
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:07,880
details, but you need to say 
like the team has evaluated the 

747
00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:12,080
solution and has tested the 
ability to do this, and we're 

748
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,600
going to use this tool or 
framework or technology to do 

749
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:18,120
that. 
That's enough for the strategy 

750
00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:20,960
conversation. 
So that's what the internal FAQ 

751
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:22,760
includes. 
Right. 

752
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:24,600
Very interesting. 
You mentioned that we should 

753
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,720
start by writing the internal 
FAQ first followed by customer 

754
00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:29,600
FAQ and the last is press 
release, right? 

755
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,840
So I think I can understand why 
it is powerful to start with 

756
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,920
internal FAQ first. 
I think similar kind of question

757
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:38,480
like how do you come up with the
questions, right? 

758
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,520
Do you involve the different 
various teams, maybe the leaders

759
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:44,720
from those teams to actually 
come and maybe ask the questions

760
00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:47,600
itself upfront so that the owner
of the initiative can come up 

761
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:49,960
with the answer? 
Or is there any other way of 

762
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:53,240
writing the internal FAQs? 
Yeah, the, the easiest way is 

763
00:39:53,240 --> 00:39:55,760
probably to read the book and 
pick the questions from my my 

764
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:58,200
book, right. 
But independent of that, you're 

765
00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:00,200
right. 
Like, as you review this 

766
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:03,160
document with some people, 
they're going to ask you new 

767
00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:05,680
questions that are very 
strategically important. 

768
00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:08,920
That you haven't included. 
Some are going to be tactical, 

769
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:10,520
right? 
They're going to ask you about 

770
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,720
like, hey, are we going to use 
this cloud provider or that 

771
00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:15,440
cloud provider that is tactical.
You don't need to include that 

772
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:19,960
unless it is not tactical. 
It's strategic in the sense that

773
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:22,280
that decision is going to have 
implications for the 

774
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:24,000
partnerships the organization 
has. 

775
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:25,920
So that is strategic, not 
tactical. 

776
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,720
So as people ask you certain 
questions, you have to make a 

777
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:32,840
judgement. 
Is this relevant for us to make 

778
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,640
a decision or can we talk about 
that later? 

779
00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:39,040
If it is like we can talk about 
that later after we make a 

780
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:42,280
decision, you don't include it. 
If it is important to make a 

781
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:45,600
decision, you include it. 
So that's how you come up with 

782
00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:48,680
newer questions that you can add
to the internal FAQ. 

783
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:52,240
Right. 
The strategic aspect part I 

784
00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:53,760
think is really interesting, 
right? 

785
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:56,400
Because if, for example, we are 
building, I don't know like a 

786
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:59,560
technical products, how much 
level of technical details 

787
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,440
should be included? 
Or if, let's say it's a project 

788
00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:04,280
about, I don't know, migrating 
something, right? 

789
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:07,680
Again, how much level of the, 
you know, technical details and 

790
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:09,200
steps that we need to include, 
right? 

791
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:12,120
And maybe marketing strategies, 
how much, you know, details in 

792
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:15,840
terms of campaign. 
So I think sometimes it can be 

793
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:19,520
really difficult to actually 
understand about those kind of 

794
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:21,840
projects without actually 
knowing the level of details. 

795
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,040
So how should you balance these 
details with the strategic and 

796
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:28,520
concise manner of the FAQs? 
So it depends on what you're 

797
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,280
using the PRFEQ for, right? 
PRFEQ is for any kind of 

798
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:32,880
innovation. 
So we could be for a new 

799
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:36,040
product, new feature, but also 
it could be for internal 

800
00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:39,680
services and tools. 
And that can mean both like IT 

801
00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:45,240
and HR and Finance and legal who
need to change a process or 

802
00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:48,960
change a vendor or change a tool
that they use or implement a new

803
00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:52,920
tool for themselves. 
But also like platform teams and

804
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:55,960
core technology teams and other 
teams that are building like 

805
00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:59,400
infrastructure tools for other 
engineering teams to use. 

806
00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:04,640
So in that case, what an 
engineering team can do is to 

807
00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:07,280
imagine the other team as their 
customer. 

808
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,280
So they write the PRFAQ in a 
funny way. 

809
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:13,600
It reads funny. 
And by the way, it doesn't have 

810
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:17,080
to be a press release on that 
case, could be an e-mail or a 

811
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:20,480
blog post announcing the new 
infrastructure. 

812
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:24,520
So let's say you're moving from 
one database technology to 

813
00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:29,800
another database technology 
until the announcement itself is

814
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:34,120
now we are making available for 
the front end engineering teams 

815
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:37,640
to access the data from this new
database that we're using. 

816
00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:41,680
I even include an example like 
that on my book about how to use

817
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:47,000
for internal tech projects. 
And on that case, the customer 

818
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,480
FAQs are employees of the 
organization. 

819
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:52,520
So the customers are employees 
of the organization. 

820
00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:54,320
So you don't need the customer 
FAQs. 

821
00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:56,960
You can just like get rid of 
that section, right? 

822
00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:01,400
Like everything is an internal 
FAQ because your customer is 

823
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:03,280
part of your team. 
So you can share that 

824
00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:07,480
information directly with them. 
And on that case, how you define

825
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:10,040
strategy is slightly different, 
right? 

826
00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:13,440
It's more about the interfaces 
and the contracts that are going

827
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:18,080
to be exposing to other teams 
versus the customer product that

828
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:19,880
you're building for an external 
customer. 

829
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:23,040
Thanks for clarifying that. 
So I think we have covered the 

830
00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:25,440
three sections. 
The last section is the optional

831
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:27,880
one which is appendix. 
One thing that I find really 

832
00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,800
interesting, you mentioned that 
we can put appendix is optional,

833
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:33,680
but you should not expect people
to read it or dig deeper into 

834
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:35,800
it. 
So maybe tell us any reason this

835
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,800
kind of specificity about 
appendix? 

836
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,280
Depending on the size of the 
project that you are working on,

837
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:45,840
it might involve a lot of 
functions in your organization. 

838
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:49,400
So you might have marketing and 
sales and UX and product 

839
00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:52,680
management and engineering and 
machine learning teams and 

840
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:55,800
everything else that you can 
imagine like every other 

841
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:59,800
function under the sun. 
So sometimes it's good to have 

842
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:06,160
some elements that is a little 
bit deeper so this functions can

843
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:08,560
comment on it. 
So let's talk about finance. 

844
00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:12,320
For example, you might be 
revealing your PRFEQ with the 

845
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:14,440
financing. 
They want to know like how much 

846
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,040
this is going to cost, what is 
the revenue, What kind of 

847
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:20,160
modeling have you done? 
If you include that in the 1st 6

848
00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:24,080
pages, it's going to be a lot 
and it's going to be really hard

849
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:27,320
for the other people to extract 
the value that they need from 

850
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:29,760
it. 
So you might include a page on 

851
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,720
financial modeling on the 
appendix, right? 

852
00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:35,720
And then when you are reviewing 
the PRFAQ with the financing, 

853
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:41,320
you say read the PRFAQ and read 
Appendix C that has a financial 

854
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:44,240
model, right? 
And then they going to be able 

855
00:44:44,240 --> 00:44:48,360
to read the entire strategy and 
vision, but go one level deeper 

856
00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:52,040
on what matters to them. 
Same thing for engineering, for 

857
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:55,080
UX, for product, for other 
elements. 

858
00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:59,840
So you might include diagrams of
an architecture if that's really

859
00:44:59,840 --> 00:45:03,160
important to include to make a 
strategic decision. 

860
00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:08,440
Again, you might include some 
Marks and wireframes of what you

861
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:12,240
consider to be building so that 
it helps the UX team understand 

862
00:45:12,240 --> 00:45:16,080
what's going on, or even the UX 
the results of UX research that 

863
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:18,120
has been done so far. 
Right. 

864
00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:20,840
I think we have the full picture
now about PRFAQ. 

865
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:23,360
Thanks for painting it in such a
detailed manner, right? 

866
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:26,320
So I think some people might be 
really interested in adopting 

867
00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:28,320
this, right? 
So I think maybe we should 

868
00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:30,120
advise people how to get 
started, right? 

869
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,560
So is there a way that people 
can start? 

870
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:35,240
Maybe there are some examples 
that, you know, are publicly 

871
00:45:35,240 --> 00:45:38,520
available that we can follow? 
Is there any more contents maybe

872
00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:41,280
from you that we can follow in 
terms of, you know, trying to 

873
00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:45,400
learn and practice the PRFAQ? 
Absolutely, yes. 

874
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:48,640
Actually, if you go to my 
website and you can go to Google

875
00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:51,840
and search for PRFEQ book and 
you're going to find the book 

876
00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:54,760
website. 
I actually put a few examples 

877
00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:58,000
there so people can read this. 
And that's where I recommend 

878
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:00,920
people get started, right? 
Read a few PRFEQ so you 

879
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:02,440
understand what The thing is 
about. 

880
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:05,800
And then on the website I have 
lots of resources including 

881
00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:09,640
templates for people to download
and try to practice the PRFEQ or

882
00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:12,040
even buy the book and read it. 
Right. 

883
00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:15,680
One aspect when we try to adopt 
best practices from other 

884
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:18,480
companies or big tech giants, 
right, is the importance of 

885
00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:21,800
context. 
Do you think this PRFAQ will 

886
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:24,400
work outside of Amazon? 
And if So, what is the most 

887
00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:28,240
important thing that actually 
affects the success of PRFAQ 

888
00:46:28,240 --> 00:46:31,720
adoption? 
So my book is an adaptation of 

889
00:46:31,720 --> 00:46:35,320
Amazon's PRFQ. 
The way Amazon does PRFQ is 

890
00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:38,120
slightly different than what I 
described in the book because 

891
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:41,240
Amazon is a very resourceful 
organization. 

892
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:43,680
It has a lot of money, it has a 
lot of people, it has a lot of 

893
00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:46,520
time to make like really big 
decisions that only going to 

894
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:50,080
have an impact 2 years from now.
Most organizations don't have 

895
00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:53,840
that kind of resource or that 
timeline or that mindset. 

896
00:46:54,200 --> 00:46:58,040
So the reason I adopted the 
Amazon way is so that anyone 

897
00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:01,000
could do a PRFQ in one or two 
weeks, which is a reasonable 

898
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:03,800
amount of time if you're going 
to invest three months, six 

899
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:06,200
months or 12 months in a 
project, right? 

900
00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:11,680
And I, I do think it's very 
useful for even if you're just a

901
00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:14,800
single person, right? 
Like you're a solo entrepreneur 

902
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:18,680
or solo founder, the PRPQ helps 
you give you clarity as you 

903
00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:20,120
think about and as you're 
writing. 

904
00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:23,200
And then they find the gaps on 
your knowledge and your critical

905
00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:26,200
thinking. 
The PRPQ is going to forces you 

906
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:30,080
to like get clarity on it and 
learn how to articulate it 

907
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:32,240
better. 
So people ask me like, hey, 

908
00:47:32,240 --> 00:47:36,000
should I should founders use 
PRPQ to, to get investors. 

909
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:39,520
And I say it doesn't matter. 
What matters is that you write 

910
00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:42,080
your PRPQ. 
And by the act of writing the 

911
00:47:42,080 --> 00:47:44,880
PRPQ, even if you use a 
presentation later, you're going

912
00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:48,240
to be much better at 
articulating your vision and 

913
00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:51,960
your story in a way that's going
to resonate with investors. 

914
00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:55,040
So he works on that setting, but
he also works in any big 

915
00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:57,600
company. 
My only recommendation is that 

916
00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:00,840
people don't start PRPQ with a 
very big project if it is the 

917
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:03,800
first one that you're doing. 
You know, pick a small project 

918
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:07,160
with a reasonable number of 
people, maybe 5 or 10 people in 

919
00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:09,240
the organization. 
Tell everyone this is an 

920
00:48:09,240 --> 00:48:11,200
experiment, that you're going to
give it a try. 

921
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:14,080
I pretty much guarantee that the
first time you try is going to 

922
00:48:14,080 --> 00:48:17,560
be wrong. 
So try again and try again. 

923
00:48:17,880 --> 00:48:19,880
No one like gets it right the 
first time. 

924
00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:24,120
It doesn't matter if it has 
PRFAQS or OK Rs or PRDS or any 

925
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:27,080
other framework. 
Like it takes some time for you 

926
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:32,160
to learn it, so use it three to 
four times before you really 

927
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:35,880
understand what's going on and 
feel like comfortable using it. 

928
00:48:36,560 --> 00:48:38,200
Yeah. 
And one aspect that is really 

929
00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:40,200
important is the writing skills,
right? 

930
00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:43,320
So again, this is a written 
narrative document, right? 

931
00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:46,600
So you should also improve in 
terms of writing skills and also

932
00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:49,560
the culture in the team 
organization should be, you 

933
00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:53,080
know, valuing written artifacts 
rather than, you know, just the 

934
00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:55,400
presentation slides. 
So I think that's so important. 

935
00:48:55,680 --> 00:48:59,040
So you mentioned that people 
will make mistakes adopting this

936
00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:01,920
framework in the very beginning.
What are some of the common 

937
00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:05,760
mistakes or anti patterns that 
you see people you know start 

938
00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:10,760
whenever they adopting PRFAQ? 
The first one is really being 

939
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:14,200
too tactical in our PRFQ and 
including a plan and road maps 

940
00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:17,400
and detailed feature list and 
lots of wireframes. 

941
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:22,080
Like don't go there, right? 
Like PRP, QS are about strategy 

942
00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:24,680
and vision. 
Stay on the ground for as long 

943
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:28,240
as you can so everyone can be 
aligned on the desired outcome 

944
00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:31,080
that the team is going after. 
That's number one. 

945
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:35,040
Number two mistake is people. 
It's kind of silly, but people 

946
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:38,680
think of PRPQ as a, what do you 
do at the end of a project, 

947
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:40,720
right? 
So you're going to be ready to 

948
00:49:40,720 --> 00:49:42,440
announce. 
So you write the press release, 

949
00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:46,120
you write the FAQ, and then you 
announce it like, no, it's not 

950
00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:47,400
for that. 
It's for the decision. 

951
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:50,480
It's for early on. 
So these are very two very 

952
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:51,880
common mistakes that I see 
happening. 

953
00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:54,280
Yeah, I can really understand 
the last one, right. 

954
00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:56,920
People think it's about 
announcing the product, right. 

955
00:49:56,920 --> 00:50:00,440
But actually it should be used 
for decision making before you 

956
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:03,560
actually decide to embark on, 
you know, the thing that you are

957
00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:06,800
planning for in the PRFAQ. 
So we have covered a lot of 

958
00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:09,080
things. 
Is there anything that you think

959
00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:12,200
we should also cover today? 
But I haven't really asked. 

960
00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:14,400
So is there anything from you, 
Marcelo? 

961
00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:21,320
The one thing I would say is to 
use a PRFEQ effectively in your 

962
00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:24,200
organization. 
The people reading the PRFEQ 

963
00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:27,960
also need to learn how to 
provide good feedback. 

964
00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:31,480
And I even have a free chapter 
that people can download from 

965
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:34,320
the website as well of how to 
provide feedback. 

966
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:37,600
Because if you're not being 
effective in providing feedback,

967
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:40,240
you are reducing the value of 
the PRFEQ. 

968
00:50:40,720 --> 00:50:45,160
Because PRFEQ is a collaboration
mechanism and you want everyone 

969
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:48,360
to understand their role as they
provide feedback. 

970
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:50,600
Right. 
I think that's a very important 

971
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:53,080
right. 
If people read but know feedback

972
00:50:53,080 --> 00:50:56,480
given, right, I think they'll be
less powerful aspect of this. 

973
00:50:56,640 --> 00:50:59,080
And as you mentioned, it's the 
collaboration aspect, right? 

974
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:01,680
So that's why we include things 
like the customer FAQ, the 

975
00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:04,640
Internet FAQ that is actually to
cover, you know, different 

976
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:07,840
perspectives so that your idea 
gets more powerful, right? 

977
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:10,920
And you can get the buy in from 
various different parts of the 

978
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:13,800
organization. 
So Marcelo, really love the 

979
00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:15,800
conversation. 
Really appreciate the book that 

980
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:18,400
you write, the PRFAQ framework, 
right? 

981
00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:21,920
So as we reach the end of our 
conversation, I have one last 

982
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:24,760
question for you today, a 
question that I call the tree 

983
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:27,480
technical leadership system. 
So think of it just like advice 

984
00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:29,120
that you want to give to us, the
listeners here. 

985
00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:32,120
Maybe if you can share your 
version of the wisdom. 

986
00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:36,200
Yeah, I'll, I'll share. 
The first wisdom is fall in love

987
00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:37,800
with the problem, not the 
solution. 

988
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:40,240
There are multiple solutions to 
a problem. 

989
00:51:40,240 --> 00:51:43,520
And once you really understand 
the problem, you're going to be 

990
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:45,280
able to provide better solutions
for it. 

991
00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:49,040
And that applies to everything. 
My not only customer problems, 

992
00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:52,800
but internal problems as well. 
The second one is remember that 

993
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:56,240
everything that we do is with 
and about people. 

994
00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:59,200
Your customers are people, your 
team members are people, your 

995
00:51:59,200 --> 00:52:02,880
vendors are people. 
So if you understand behavior 

996
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:07,960
science and either communication
or interpersonal skills, you can

997
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:10,920
really advance, you know, your 
initiatives. 

998
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:17,360
The third one is really people 
need to learn how to articulate 

999
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:21,880
their thoughts more clearly. 
Because if you have a good idea 

1000
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:24,320
or if you have good intentions 
but you don't know how to 

1001
00:52:24,320 --> 00:52:29,160
explain them well, it's really 
hard for other people to support

1002
00:52:29,160 --> 00:52:33,000
you and to rally behind you. 
That's really powerful, right? 

1003
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:36,760
Because I, I really can vouch. 
So many bright people, right? 

1004
00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:40,320
Bright ideas, but not able to 
articulate their vision, you 

1005
00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:42,440
know, their ideas better to 
other people, right? 

1006
00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:45,240
Unless it's a solo project where
you can do it maybe all by 

1007
00:52:45,240 --> 00:52:47,320
yourself. 
But I think most of the big 

1008
00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:49,920
impact projects you require 
other people to work with, 

1009
00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:51,560
right? 
So I think thanks for mentioning

1010
00:52:51,560 --> 00:52:53,680
that. 
So Marcelo, the people would 

1011
00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:56,680
love to, you know, follow up 
with you, ask you questions or 

1012
00:52:56,680 --> 00:52:59,240
maybe go to your resources. 
Maybe it's there a place where 

1013
00:52:59,240 --> 00:53:02,360
they can find you online? 
The easiest way is to go to 

1014
00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:05,560
Google, search for PRF, EQ book,
find the book website. 

1015
00:53:05,800 --> 00:53:08,480
The outer page has all my 
contact information, including 

1016
00:53:08,480 --> 00:53:10,720
my e-mail address. 
Thanks so much. 

1017
00:53:10,720 --> 00:53:12,840
I'll put that in your notes. 
So thanks again for your time 

1018
00:53:12,840 --> 00:53:14,960
today, Marcelo. 
Thank you, Henry.