Welcome. Product, Briefly is a collection of one-page briefs about building products and the people who create them, drawn from two decades of work in new ventures spanning a breadth of industries. Each one can be read in five minutes and discussed for an hour. They cover cover different facets of Product work while also serving as examples of the form.
It’s built to be taken apart: use what fits straight away, draw inspiration from the collection, make the rest your own. Take a brief, or make a brief.
| productbriefly.com | Briefs | Perks | About | Work with Me |
When I first came across Substack, I didn’t quite know what to make of it.
Paid newsletters? What even is that, like a blog but with subscription?
Later, as the concept for Product, Briefly solidified - a digital embodiment of what I envisioned as a physical book - Substack came up again as a possible way to build it. Now, though, it had competition from other “Creator toolkits” and still seemed like… a blog with a subscription feature. Because the vision really needed creative freedom to explore, a purely writing-focused toolkit wasn’t a match at the time, and I built things elsewhere.
Yet
Like Substack had some kind of gravity
I kept coming back.
Each time, Substack was a little different - podcasting, a twitter-like feed, more creative freedom in format and publishing, and most importantly - more people with deep rich ideas and constructive discussions started to appear.
Substack now had culture, and it was good.
Why make changes?
Fast forward, and in the last three months something has really shifted - well, the whole package has really shifted - and my work is going to shift with it.
The creative freedom the other technology platform underneath productbriefly.com was in fact very necessary to push the bits around and play a bit, and it allowed me to discover the form and shape this project demanded.
Now, that same technology presents other constraints holding me back in places where Substack now has built accelerants.
What’s changing?
A quick rundown of what to expect:
Revisions to each brief are happening with the print version of Product, Briefly and as I go, briefs will migrate out of productbriefly.com and onto this Substack. Expect volume here to ramp up a bit, and the main website to go away.
The content will shift slightly, with the personal backstories and examples behind the briefs shifting over to my personal Substack so I can tighten up the material here. Consider following @rcolinkennedy, the range will be wider and perhaps even more interesting for you.
The website productbriefly.com will remain live, and paid Substack subscribers can find their gateway key in the Perks section. The library of samples, examples, and more on may come down for a while as I focus on getting the new briefs up for everyone here. It will get updated based upon progress with Substacking. The Journey will stay live for a while, but may come offline too.
So, welcome back.
Soon you’ll get more in your inbox from Product, Briefly.
As things progress there will be opportunities to pre-order as I make print runs of the booklet. One early reviewer called it “a coffee table book about Product” which might be high praise or a subtle neg. You’ll have to get one for yourself to find out.
As always,
Looking forward to it!
~ Colin
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