Starting a Project

The approach: Working Backwards

Before committing time and energy to something new, write a short PR/FAQ — a press release and optional FAQ. This comes from Amazon's "Working Backwards" process, where you start from the desired outcome and reason backwards to what needs to be built, rather than starting from what you can already do.

The press release here is not a traditional marketing press release. It is a short internal document written as if the project is already complete and being announced — a forcing function that makes you articulate what you are actually trying to achieve before you start. If you cannot write a crisp press release, the idea needs more thinking first.

The FAQ is optional. It is useful for larger or more complex projects where stakeholders will have questions about feasibility, cost, risks, or how it fits the strategy. For small projects, skip it.

The goal is velocity over speed: a little thinking upfront prevents a lot of wasted building.

The template

Copy the template below, fill it in, and open a GitHub issue in this repo with the completed document as the body. Add the label proposal. That becomes the record and the place for discussion.

## [Project name] — Proposal

**Owner**: [name]  
**Time envelope**: [rough estimate — e.g. 2 weeks, 1 month, ongoing]  
**Supporting docs**: [link to any Drive folder, spec, or related material — leave blank if none]

### Press release

#### [Headline: what was built and for whom, in one sentence]

[Subheading: the specific benefit to the people it serves]

**Problem**: [One paragraph. What was broken, missing, or worth improving?
Why did it matter enough to act on?]

**Solution**: [One or two paragraphs written as if the project is complete.
What was built? How does it address the problem? What is different now?]

**What success looks like**: [Two or three specific, observable outcomes —
what will be true when this is done that is not true today?]

### FAQ (optional)

[Add questions and answers that stakeholders are likely to ask —
about feasibility, cost, risks, or strategic fit. Skip for small projects.]

Optional: add an SCQH

For larger or more ambiguous projects — especially where the why is not obvious from the press release — add a short Situation / Complication / Question / Hypothesis. Not required for most projects. If the press release already makes the motivation clear, skip it.

What happens next

Someone will comment on the issue, ask questions, or give a go/no-go. For small projects owned entirely by one person, that may just be a quick acknowledgement. For larger efforts touching shared resources or strategy, it will involve more discussion.

If your idea is not yet ready for a press release, use the Ideas Inbox instead.