Working Backwards Press Release Template

A product brief is an internal document that argues for why a product should be built. It speaks to leadership in business terms. A Working Backwards press release is written as if the product already exists and is being announced to customers. The audience shift forces you to think from the customer's perspective rather than the company's perspective. Many teams use the press release to validate the idea, then write the product brief to secure resources.

One page. The press release itself (not including the FAQs) should fit on a single printed page. Amazon enforces this constraint to force clarity. If you need more than one page to explain the customer benefit, you are either trying to do too much or you have not found the core value proposition yet.

That is the point. If you cannot write a compelling one-page press release, the idea is not ready. Either the customer problem is not clear enough, the solution is not differentiated enough, or the benefit is not meaningful enough. Go back to [product discovery](/guides/the-complete-guide-to-product-discovery) and do more customer research before proceeding.

Yes. Amazon uses Working Backwards for features, services, and internal tools. Any initiative that affects customers benefits from the exercise. For smaller features, you can shorten the press release to 2-3 paragraphs and reduce the FAQ to 3 questions each.

Working Backwards helps you validate the "Impact" and "Confidence" components of [RICE scoring](/frameworks/rice-framework). A strong press release increases your confidence that the initiative will deliver meaningful impact. Use the [RICE Calculator](/tools/rice-calculator) after the Working Backwards session to score the initiative against other priorities. ---