Below is a quick-scan guide to how “write-ups vs. slide-decks” play out in product-management culture at six of the best-known tech companies. I’ve highlighted the signature artifact, what a typical review meeting feels like, and what that says about how each company thinks and moves.
| Company | Signature artifact(s) | What the meeting looks like | Cultural signal & PM take-aways |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 6-page narrative (sometimes a PR/FAQ) – slides are banned in senior reviews www.inc.comelabor8.com.au | 20–30 min of silent “study hall,” then rapid-fire debate on the doc’s logic and data | Writing = thinking; clarity beats polish. PM tip: budget real time to draft, iterate and pressure-test the memo—surface objections inside the doc so you don’t get blindsided live. |
| Google Docs PRDs for detail, but decks (Google Slides) dominate exec product-strategy and quarterly reviews gibsonbiddle.medium.com | Author presents a distilled deck; discussion jumps to embedded links for deeper data; little or no group reading time | Bias toward quick, visual storytelling; collaborative comments async. PM tip: keep a living doc as the “source of truth,” but win hearts in the meeting with a crisp, graphic narrative. | |
| Meta (Facebook) | Hybrid: concise Google Docs for pre-read + minimalist Slides for “asks”/decisions naomi.com | Moderator confirms who read the pre-read; if not, a 5-min walk-through, then open Q&A focused on explicit “decision or alignment” prompts | “Extreme Clarity” mindset—force explicit next steps and owners. PM tip: number every list item, capture decisions in-doc during the meeting, and circulate immediately. |
| Apple | Polished Keynote decks & live prototypes; written specs are sparse and tightly shared medium.comwww.apple.com | Small, secrecy-bound room; presenter demos and fields microscopic questions—leaders may drill into a spreadsheet cell or code line on the spot | Design craftsmanship and secrecy trump verbose docs. PM tip: invest in demo fidelity and anticipate deep technical dives rather than broad narrative framing. |
| Microsoft | Historically long Word specs, but PowerPoint remains the currency for leadership reviews www.newyorker.com | Presenter walks the deck; discussion often tracks the bullet points; follow-up docs fill in detail afterward | “If it isn’t in the deck, it didn’t happen.” PM tip: make every slide title a conclusion, not a label, and leave room in the appendix for engineers’ questions. |
| Netflix | Culture of sharing memos as Slide decks (iconic 175-slide “Freedom & Responsibility” deck) www.fastcompany.comwww.slideshare.net | Deck is circulated in advance; meeting time is for debate, not walk-through; dissent is expected | High talent density, minimal process; clarity over consensus. PM tip: treat slides like a narrative memo—full sentences, no fluff—because people are expected to read, not be shown. |
Patterns & what they mean for you
- Narrative cultures force depth; deck cultures favor pace.
Amazon-style memos make gaps obvious and reward rigorous logic; slide cultures compress context and rely on verbal colour commentary. - Pre-read discipline varies.
At Amazon and Netflix the calendar literally reserves silent reading time; Google and Microsoft assume you skimmed the deck beforehand; Meta asks at the top of the meeting and adapts on the fly. - Artifact choice mirrors company values.
Writing aligns with “customer obsession” (Amazon) or radical candor (Netflix); slides/demos align with design theatre (Apple) or speed and persuasion (Google/Meta). - Your survival kit when switching companies:
- Map the “currency” quickly – is it a six-pager, a one-pager, a deck, or a live prototype?
- Time-box creation accordingly (two-week memo vs. overnight deck).
- Embed data appendices or links no matter the medium.
- Confirm whether meeting time will be spent reading, presenting, or purely deciding.
Being bilingual—in prose and in pixels—lets a PM land anywhere on this spectrum and still ship.
Sources