The PRFAQ

What it is

A PRFAQ is a one-page press release plus a set of frequently asked questions, written as though the product had already launched. It is the core artifact of Working Backwards. It comes after the five questions, never in place of them.

Structure

1. 1
   The press release

   One page, written in customer-facing language, dated in the future. It states the customer, the problem, the solution and the most important benefit, in terms a customer would recognize. Internal vocabulary is a signal that the thinking is not finished.

2. 2
   Customer FAQs

   The questions a customer would ask about using it: what it does, what it costs them, what changes for them, what happens when it goes wrong.

3. 3
   Stakeholder FAQs

   The questions your own organization will ask: what evidence supports the demand, what it costs to build and run, what it competes with internally, what the risks are, what has to be true for it to work.

How it is used

The document exists to be read by other people and argued with. A PRFAQ that circulates without objections has not been read properly. In our engagements the readout is a scheduled event with a decision attached: proceed, refine, run a specific experiment, or stop.

The test is simple and unforgiving. If the press release is not exciting to read, the idea is not worth building.

What we deliver

Engagements that include PRFAQ work leave you with the completed documents, the workshop companion job aid, and a prompt set for drafting and critiquing PRFAQs in the AI tools your own organization has approved.