PR/FAQ (Amazon Working Backwards Artifact)
Use it when you need to nail product-market fit and stakeholder alignment before writing a single line of code.
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What is it?
PR/FAQ is Amazon's core “working backwards” tool: a two-part document that pairs a customer-facing press release with an in-depth FAQ to validate ideas before any code gets written.
By starting with a mock press release, you force yourself to articulate the target audience, the problem you're solving, and the key benefits in clear, benefit-driven language. The accompanying FAQ then surfaces all stakeholder and customer questions, covering use cases, metrics, potential risks, and launch strategy, and turns assumptions into testable hypotheses. This process flips traditional roadmapping on its head, aligning teams around a shared vision and measurable success criteria. It uncovers gaps in market need, user experience, and technical feasibility long before you allocate development resources.
Builders use PR/FAQ to secure executive buy-in, streamline prioritization, and ensure every feature ties back to a real user outcome. In short, PR/FAQ is your go-to framework for product strategy, idea validation, and crafting a user-first narrative that drives faster, smarter launches.
Why it matters?
PR/FAQ drives growth by forcing early clarity on customer value and success metrics, slashing wasted dev cycles and accelerating time-to-market. With everyone rallying behind a sharpened narrative, you ship features that hit the mark, boosting adoption, retention, and revenue without the endless internal debates that kill momentum.
How it works
Growth co-pilot turns your toughest product questions into clear, data-backed recommendations you can act on immediately.
1
Draft the Press Release
Write a compelling announcement as if your product is live. Focus on the user problem, core benefits, and target audience to force clarity and brevity.
2
Build the FAQ
List anticipated stakeholder and customer questions, on use cases, metrics, tech dependencies, and launch plan, and answer each with data-backed insights or testable assumptions.
3
Define Success Metrics
In the FAQ, name your North-Star metrics (adoption rate, retention uplift, revenue targets) to keep the team outcome-focused from day one.
4
Surface Risks & Dependencies
Use FAQ entries to call out technical challenges, market risks, and resource constraints, and assign owners for early accountability.
5
Iterate Cross-Functionally
Share the draft with devs, designers, marketing, and execs. Refine language, assumptions, and metrics until everyone's aligned.
6
Validate with Real Users
Run the press release and FAQ propositions past target customers via surveys or interviews to confirm the problem resonates.
7
Freeze & Execute
Once stakeholders sign off, lock the doc as your single source of truth and reference it throughout planning and sprints.
Frequently asked questions
Growth co-pilot turns your toughest product questions into clear, data-backed recommendations you can act on immediately.
You've firmed up your PR/FAQ and zeroed in on real user benefits. Now plug it into the CrackGrowth Diagnostic to spot blind spots, generate validated experiments, and turbocharge your product-market fit.