70% of the content we publish on Mind the Product is written by product people, for product people, the remaining 30% is written by the MTP editorial team. That’s because we’ve always believed that there isn’t one way to do product. There’s a naturally messy nature to the craft, and since our beginnings, we’ve always celebrated that.
This is part of the reason that Mind the Product exists today, to connect, learn, disagree, and share with each other how to build great products, teams, and develop fulfilling careers. Writing content and sharing these perspectives with the community helps us turn our thoughts into lessons other product people can use.
Due to the launch and fast adoption of AI models in 2022, it has never been easier to write content. We feel however, that sharing your story with the product community should take time, effort, and original thought.
AI tools are powerful at brainstorming, drafting outlines, proofreading, and researching new ideas, however, we ask you to reconsider before submitting an article for Mind the Product that was written entirely by and with AI.
Our ask to you:
- Don’t submit an article generated by AI from a prompt, even if you’ve subsequently edited it.
- If AI has substantially drafted or rewritten parts of your submission, tell the editorial team how you used it in a note on the doc that you share with us.
- Take responsibility for every claim, quotation, and reference. Check original sources, credit other people’s ideas, and never present an AI-generated example as something you experienced.
Our writing principles:
- Writing is thinking. Take the time that you need to put your thoughts to paper. Spending time on your writing helps to talk yourself through the idea. Letting AI do that for you dilutes your own thoughts, experiences, and perspectives.
- Create your own voice and tone that makes your writing feel like you. The beauty of writing comes from the messy nature of starting a story from a blank canvas. Sometimes shorter paragraphs followed by a long section is perfect. The beauty of writing is in its imperfection, as Gary Provost says, Write a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader’s ear. Don’t just write words. Write music. Natural-sounding beats polished every time.
- Stand by every single word. Every reference and claim you make should come from your own thoughts and experiences. That’s what makes our guest posts so valuable to the product community. Don’t waste readers’time by putting a thought out there that isn’t yours.
- AI can be a very useful tool for writing within reason: Over the past few years we’ve published countless articles, podcasts, and conference talks on how AI is changing product, and writing is no different. It is a great tool to use for researching, suggesting edits, identifying typos, and so many other tasks. However, we believe that there is more value using AI as a writing assistant instead of a co-author.
Don’t just take our word for it! Here’s what the community has to say:
- The revolt of the reader by Bryan Cantrill, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
- What we lose when AI writes for us by Alfonso Franco, VP at Laerdal
- Christina Wodtke on the case against writing with AI
For all Mind the Product community members. Please abide by this policy to ensure that we’re sharing the most valuable and practical insights for the product community.
As AI tools improve over time at theory of mind and get better at writing, it may make sense to lean more heavily on them, but the principles in this policy will remain the same.
