Two-Way Write-Ups
Make written docs conversational with done-reading, Dory questions, and a sentiment table.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
An evolution beyond one-way prose write-ups (the Amazon six-pager model) into documents where feedback and discussion are part of the content itself. Three mechanisms — a done-reading button, a Dory question table, and a sentiment/pulse gauge — fix the failures of comment-thread chaos and make quiet voices heard.
Origin
Shackleton traces a three-phase history: 1980s PowerPoint, early-2000s Google Docs plus Jeff Bezos's six-pager memo (the one-way write-up phase, per the book Working Backwards by Colin Bryar), and now the two-way write-up phase he and Coda customers practice.
Core principles
- 01One-way write-ups leave you guessing who has actually read the doc
- 02Discussion scattered in the comment margin hides the most important question
- 03A mega comment thread on the title becomes the dumping ground for overall opinions
- 04A sentiment table is inclusive to the whole audience, surfacing quiet dissent
How to run it
- 1
Add a done-reading button
Put a 'done reading' button at the end of the write-up so you can see exactly who has read it — for long docs, place several buttons through the doc to see how far each person got.
Pro tip Multiple done-reading checkpoints show where readers dropped off in a long piece.
Watch out Waiting for an SVP's avatar to appear as a proxy for 'they read it' is insane and unreliable.
- 2
Collect questions in a Dory table
Instead of fishing important questions out of scattered comments, put questions in a table and let people upvote them so the most important one rises to the top.
Pro tip Upvoting means you stop scrambling through comments 20 minutes before the session.
Watch out Buried questions in the margin leave you unsure which one actually matters.
- 3
Gauge sentiment with a pulse table
Ask everyone how they feel overall about the proposal (e.g. one-to-five smiley faces) in a sentiment table, making the whole audience's stance visible and inclusive.
Pro tip This is the most valuable element — it catches dissent from people who don't speak up in meetings.
Watch out A title comment thread only captures the vocal; quiet objectors stay invisible without a sentiment table.
In the wild
Shackleton wrote a proposal he expected to sail through with all fives, but a normally-quiet lead designer marked one smiley face and said they shouldn't do it — feedback he'd never have heard in a meeting.
→ The sentiment table surfaced a critical objection from someone who wasn't vocal, which the old comment-thread model would have missed.
Common mistakes
Waiting for an avatar to confirm a read
With one-way docs you have no idea who read your write-up, so you watch for a senior person's avatar to appear — an absurd, unreliable proxy a done-reading button replaces.
Running discussion through the comment margin
Meaningful debate crammed into the 100-pixel right margin or a mega title thread hides the most important question and silences people who don't comment.
Is it for you?
Best for
Product teams and leaders who drive decisions through written docs and want inclusive, legible feedback
Not ideal for
Very short or low-stakes docs where a quick comment thread is entirely sufficient
From the transcript
“you have a a done reading button at the end of a write”
“the most valuable is sentiment or pulse which is you know how do you feel overall about this particular proposal”
From the episode
What sets great teams apart
Lane Shackleton (CPO of Coda)