Written communication creates lasting consistency across an entire team because a piece of writing is leveragable collateral from which everyone, from marketing to sales to QA to engineering, can work and consult.
Accountability spreads as a manager’s written work product — product requirement documents, FAQs, presentations, white papers — holds the manager responsible for what happens when the rest of the team executes on the clearly articulated, unambiguous vision described by the documents.
To Horowitz, the distinction between written and verbal communication is stark and in fact is what separates the wheat from the chaff. Good managers want to be held accountable and aren’t looking for ways to weasel out of responsibility. And so, good managers write, while “[b]ad product managers voice their opinion verbally and lament … the ‘powers that be’.”
via The Dullest, Most Vital Skill You Need to Become a Successful Manager | LinkedIn.
At a former employer, I had a manager that was the chaff. One highlight of that experience was when he sent an personal email asking me to modify programming for a client that he had forgotten to even mention earlier. The public description on my job-queue (that everyone could see) was that I must have disabled the programming that already existed. Never able to take blame, never able to accept fault. Worst experience ever. Even if you’re written communication abilities are mediocre, the ability to be open and honest and clear are crucial.
Sorry for the rant – this brought back bad memories.