Writing vs Talking Culture

When I started my first full-time job as a product manager, the first project I was tasked with had minimal written documentation. There were no requirements doc, no paper trails, and I was invited to multiple knowledge transfer meetings to gain context. During these knowledge transfer meetings, while my manager explained the reasoning behind the feature, I was nodding along, it made sense. But when I started writing a one pager for this feature including an explanation of the context, I found the reasoning was flawed.

When you speak, it matters less what you say and more of how you say it. When someone’s giving a presentation, there’s little time for a listener to process and critically analyze the presenter’s ideas. There were many instances when I was in a meeting with a persuasive colleague and I was convinced of a viewpoint that I later disagreed with after thinking about it more.

In talking cultures, only one person can speak at a time. This can lead to the highest-paid person’s opinion carrying the most weight, rather than the group making the best possible decision.

In writing-focused cultures, ideas win. Jeff Bezos famously mandates 6-page written memos for every new product, outlining customer problems and proposed solutions. As Bezos states, “There is no way to write a six-page, narratively structured memo and not have clear thinking.” Writing is a tool for clarifying one’s thinking. Furthermore, written cultures leave a paper trail, making decision-making and context transparent, even to those not present in meetings. This allows people outside the meeting to contribute to the outcomes as well.