Remember, again, that while they can certainly mention specific features, customers find value in attaining a personal benefit like having more free time to spend with family, impress the boss or save money.

7. How did the team work together to achieve these results? What challenges did the team overcome to make the product successful?

This is another of my additions. Teams inevitably have to overcome challenges— technical, legal, production, process, etc. What did your team have to do to be successful?

Try to predict the challenges the teams face today to achieving the kind of success you’ve imagined for this product. What would get in the way? How will you collaborate across different groups? Locations? Meet legal requirements? Etc.

8. Provide a call to action.

Now that you’ve made a strong case for all the components of your work, tell people what you want them to do next. For example, “Download it here!” or “Sign up for a free trial on our website.”

How To Put The “Working Backwards” Template To Good Use

The final step in the working backwards process is putting it all together in a narrative that is compelling and most importantly one that you and the team believe.

If nothing else, remember: If you can’t tell a story that you believe you won’t convince anyone else.

This will take some iteration and you’ll struggle at first to put the narrative together. Take your early drafts outside of the team and show them to a few colleagues. Get that feedback^[3] and iterate until you get to a press release that is not only compelling but can be clearly understood by a broad range of the non-technical public.

Final Thoughts On Working Backwards

The goal of working backwards is to ensure we’re always thinking about the customer first. It’s risky and costly to launch products customers don’t want. The Future Press Release process helps teams envision what that end goal might look like, clearly define success in a customer-centric way and begin to consider some of the collaboration challenges they’ll need to overcome to be successful.