Written Communication for Leaders

The Guide

5 key steps synthesized from 3 experts.

1

Establish the Narrative Wrapper

Start by defining the Situation and Complication using the SCR framework to ensure all stakeholders are aligned on the problem before discussing solutions. This builds a foundation of facts that prevents early stage friction in the decision making process.

Featured guest perspectives

"If you simplify this further, there are three parts to every narrative: Situation, Complication, Resolution. 1. Situation: What is the state of affairs today. Facts, data, and unambiguous background. 2. Complication: What has changed that requires action. What is the problem? 3. Resolution: What we need to do to resolve this complication."

— Lenny Rachitsky

"The best executive communication starts with the state of affairs. It’s fact-based, unambiguous. It’s totally not controversial. No matter what side of an issue or a hard choice you’re on, you should be able to read the situation and go, ‘That pretty much sums it up.’"

— Lenny Rachitsky

2

Flip the Discovery Process

Instead of walking the reader through your research chronologically, lead with the primary conclusion or recommendation at the top. Group your supporting evidence into logical arguments below the main point to respect the time of executive readers.

Featured guest perspectives

"Great PMs take pride in the clarity and conciseness of their documents, emails, presentations, and meetings. They know that people judge the quality of their thinking by the quality of their writing and speaking, and that effective communication is the most fundamental PM skill."

— Lenny Rachitsky

3

Iterate for Novelty and Clarity

Treat your first draft as a way to drain obvious ideas and use a disciplined editing process to inject non-obvious insights. Refine the prose by cutting unnecessary words and using tools or peers for brutally honest feedback.

Featured guest perspectives

"Force yourself to look at every email at least once before you send it. There’s always something you can cut or clarify."

— Lenny Rachitsky

4

Scale via Async Norms

Normalize using these structured documents in shared channels to replace non-urgent meetings. Establish clear expectations for how and when stakeholders should provide feedback to maintain a high bar for product quality without constant syncs.

Featured guest perspectives

"For non-timely questions, avoid distracting team members by making it easy (and normal) to communicate asynchronously."

— Lenny Rachitsky

5

Leverage AI as a Rigorous Editor

Use AI tools to scan your drafts for logical gaps, unsupported claims, or tone issues, but ensure you provide deep context on your goals first. Maintain authorial control by using the AI to refine and shorten rather than to generate the core thinking.

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Guest Perspectives

Deep dive into what 2 podcast guests shared about written communication for leaders.

Julian Shapiro 1 quote

Listen to episode →

"They're forcing functions for me to hold myself accountable and to be thorough when learning something for my own benefit. That's all they are. Basically if I want to go learn growth or writing well or some other topic, I will go ahead and do a ton of research, read everything I can get my hands on, do a ton of experimentation to try to build a set of novel insights that you couldn't find from other people's research hopefully, and then the next stage is try to make it as concise and actionable as possible so that I can reference it for my own selfish benefit."

Tactical:

Choose topics you want to learn for your own benefit to create a built-in forcing function for thoroughness.
Conduct extensive research and experimentation to uncover unique insights that others haven't documented.
Package your learning into concise, actionable guides that serve as your own future reference.

View all skills from Julian Shapiro →

Kevin Yien 1 quote

Listen to episode →

"writing is clarity at scale, and a key component to a PM's job is creating clarity both i"

Tactical:

View writing as a primary tool for scaling your influence and alignment efforts.
Use written documentation to bridge the gap between internal stakeholders and external customer needs.
Prioritize clear, written rationales over verbal explanations to ensure consistency at scale.

View all skills from Kevin Yien →

From Lenny's Newsletter

5 newsletter posts cover written communication for leaders.

14 habits of highly effective product managers 1 quote

Read the post →

"Great PMs take pride in the clarity and conciseness of their documents, emails, presentations, and meetings. They know that people judge the quality of their thinking by the quality of their writing and speaking, and that effective communication is the most fundamental PM skill."

Tactical:

Ask your manager and trusted peers for brutally honest feedback on your documents and meetings.
Use frameworks like the Minto Pyramid and SCR when crafting an argument.
Maintain a 'swipe file' of well-executed emails and presentations to use for future inspiration.

Essential reading for product builders—part 2 1 quote

Read the post →

"The best executive communication starts with the state of affairs. It’s fact-based, unambiguous. It’s totally not controversial. No matter what side of an issue or a hard choice you’re on, you should be able to read the situation and go, ‘That pretty much sums it up.’"

Tactical:

Start every high-stakes communication with a shared, fact-based 'Situation' that everyone can agree on.
Follow the Situation with a crisp 'Complication' stating what has changed or is making things harder.
Present the 'Answer' first at the top of the pyramid, then provide supporting evidence underneath.

Increasing team velocity 1 quote

Read the post →

"For non-timely questions, avoid distracting team members by making it easy (and normal) to communicate asynchronously."

Tactical:

Define clear norms for when a question should be handled via async channels versus immediate syncs.
Encourage the use of shared documents or messaging threads for updates that don't require instant feedback.
Model async behavior by providing status updates that don't mandate an immediate response.

Startup PM vs. big company PM 1 quote

Read the post →

"Force yourself to look at every email at least once before you send it. There’s always something you can cut or clarify."

Tactical:

Close out all comments in a document before sharing it with executive stakeholders.
Focus on clean, consistent formatting to make documents easy for readers to scan.
Seek feedback from at least one person before sharing a doc widely.

The Minto Pyramid Principle and the SCR Framework 1 quote

Read the post →

"If you simplify this further, there are three parts to every narrative: Situation, Complication, Resolution. 1. Situation: What is the state of affairs today. Facts, data, and unambiguous background. 2. Complication: What has changed that requires action. What is the problem? 3. Resolution: What we need to do to resolve this complication."

Tactical:

Describe the current state of affairs using facts and data that everyone can agree on.
Identify the specific complication or change that necessitates action now.
Present the resolution as the clear path to solving the identified problem.