I tend to keep my internal processes separate from my external communications.
That is, if I’m creating a product or piece of content or building a business or even drafting a fantasy football team, I have a process I use to manage to-dos, track and determine actions, etc. I also have some form of communication with others about what I’m doing and have done. Team members, customers, investors, friends, readers, etc.
I’m a pretty transparent guy and like sharing stuff as I do it. Work out loud. But it is often confusing to people because what and how I share the vision is not the same as what and how I manage the process of making it.
Pitch decks and email updates are great examples.
If I make a pitch deck for Crash, it will convey where we are, where we’re going next, and our plan to get there. To external audiences, it is (if I do it right) at the proper level of granularity. It is not inconsistent with our internal process, but it’s very different. The team who’s on the inside might see it and be confused, because it’s not exactly the same framing as what we’re working on internally.
Email updates to investors are similar. I let them know current priorities and road-map in a way that is perfectly consistent to me, but might look slightly foreign to someone deep on the inside.
I’ve never found a valuable way to make the public communication identical to the internal process. There needs to be some buffer, level of abstraction, and simplification. But I’ve also never been the type to keep things super close to the vest. I like the excitement and accountability of sharing pretty openly what’s going on. Just not the dirty napkin sketch version.