Grammar

Ampersands

Avoid using ampersands within full sentences unless one is part of a company or brand name (no matter how tempting it is in order to save on character count):

Apostrophes

The apostrophe’s most common use is making a word possessive. If a name ends in "s," it's correct to either add another "'s" to create the possessive form, or simply add the apostrophe after the second existing “s”. We prefer the latter.

• Our shareable roadmap will reduce Tom’s workload. 
• Our shareable roadmap will reduce Ross’ workload. 
• Our shareable roadmap will reduce product managers’ workloads.

 

Colons

Use a colon (rather than an ellipsis, em dash, or comma) to offset a list.

• Milan ordered 3 kinds of coffee for the team weekly: drip, latte, and iced. 

 

Commas

Use commas to separate independent clauses (two sentences connected by a conjunction like and, or, or but). When writing a list, use the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma). It’s more precise.

In the first example, we can interpret that Radek’s parents are Oprah and Justin Timberlake. In the first, it is clear that Radek admires his parents, Oprah, and JT, and that this is a list. 

Dashes and hyphens

There are three forms of dashes: the hyphen (-), en dash (–), and em dash (—). 
The hyphen connects two things that are intimately related, usually words that function together as a single concept or work together as a joint modifier.

• First-time user
• Toll-free
• Two-thirds

The en dash (–), is used to indicate a span or range.

• 147 – 48
• Monday – Friday

Use an em dash (—) with spaces on either side to create emphasis or to offset an aside. Be sure to use a true em dash, not hyphens (- or --).

• Multivariate testing — just one of our new Pro features — can help you grow your business.
• Austin thought Brad was the new Head of Product, but he was wrong — it was Lain.

 

Exclamation points

Use exclamation points sparingly. They’re like high-fives: a well-timed one is great, but too many can be annoying.
If an exclamation point applies to the quoted material it goes within quotation marks and if it applies to the whole sentence it goes outside it.
Pavel shouted, “We did it!”
The team heard him sing to himself, “Finally, no more complexity”!

Ellipses 

Use the Unicode ellipses mark (U+2026) as it is easier on the eye than three periods without spaces.

… vs ...
The unicode character vs. three periods without spaces. See the difference? Fortunately, a lot of keyboards do this automatically.

In text
Three contiguous periods or ellipsis points can be used for:

• Omissions: of words, and parts of a sentence: “People don't buy what you do…” A quote from Simon Sinek’s, Start With Why.
• Dramatic pauses: “And… drumroll… that’s why we’re shipping early!”
• Implication: And the view... 
• Hesitation: “Um… did you mean segmentation?”
  

In the user interface

• Truncation or omissions: Use ellipses when UI text does not fit into a menu bar or container to indicate there is more text than currently visible, guiding users to expand the item.
  
• Further steps required: Use a trailing ellipses to indicate further action steps on the part of the user, such as menu items that will mean the opening of another window, dialogue, or require additional information. Preferences… or Settings…
  
• Encouragement of an action: Use ellipses to elicit a response or action. Such as, Search… Or Write a response…
  
• Action in progress: You may indicate a time-bound state with ellipses, as in the case of Loading… Searching… and Saving…

Spaces

• Don’t leave extra spaces around the ellipses like this … please.
• Even when using an ellipses in the middle of a sentence or word, such as when truncating text in the UI:
  
  Segmentation…
  Segme…
  
  NOT 

Segmentation …
Segme … 

• However, do leave a space after the ellipses, if it will be followed by a new sentence.  “And the view… It’s a fantastic office.”

Vertical ellipsis 
We refer to vertical ellipses as the More options menu when speaking directly to users such as when giving instructions.
Click on the More options menu, and then select ‘Push to Productboard.”

Percentages

Easy! Use the % symbol instead of spelling out “percent”.

 

Periods, parentheses, and quotation marks

Periods go inside quotation marks. They go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.

• Hubert said, “I drank coffee.” And it was great.
• I drank coffee (and I ate a bagel, too).
• I drank coffee and ate a bagel. (The coffee was Martin’s.)

Leave a single space between sentences.

Pronouns

If your subject’s gender is unknown or irrelevant, use “they,” “them,” and “their” as a singular pronoun. Use “he/him/his” and “she/her/her” pronouns as appropriate. Don’t use “one” as a pronoun. Use neutral, non-gendered terms for professions. Avoid patronizing language.

• “firefighter” not "fireman” or “firewoman”
• "police officer" not "policeman or policewoman”
• "actor" not “actress”
• "chair" not "chairman” or “chairwoman”
• "people" not "guys”
• "women" not "girls" or "ladies"

 

Question marks

The question mark can be used in a few different ways, though it is most often seen at the end of direct questions, and can be a more provoking copy choice. However, in product copy, always consider if you’re trying to entice (a good time to use a question mark) versus getting a user to perform an action in the very next step, such as directly preceding a CTA (generally, this isn’t advised). Example: “Looking for an all-in-one management toolkit?” [Download now] 
Use question marks when writing direct questions.

• How is the new feature being received?
• Where can I add my feedback?

Avoid turning statements into indirect questions.

• We asked the other team if we could borrow their work process? 
• The team lead won’t have to join the designer to join the call?

Feel free to use questions embedded in statements; these are necessary.

• We could bring the release forward, couldn’t we, if we reprioritized?
• Her question was, why don’t we showcase our failures as a team and learn from them in a healthy way?

If a question mark is part of an italicized title, be sure that the question mark is also italicized.

• At the next team building can we watch The Sound of Music?

If a question mark is part of a title, you can use that question mark to end your sentence rather than adding a period.

• The winner of the office competition will get a copy of Where’s Waldo?

When writing a question that concludes with an abbreviation, end the abbreviation with a period as usual and then add a question mark.  Do not put a space between the period and the question mark.

• Weren’t we supposed to fly to Washington, D.C.?

Quotation marks

Use quotes to refer to direct quotations or words and phrases you want to emphasize.
Periods and commas go within quotation marks. Question marks within quotes follow logic — if the question mark is part of the quotation, it goes within. If you’re asking a question that ends with a quote, it goes outside the quote.
Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.

• Who was it that said, “Productboard parties are legendary”?
• Kuba said, “A wise man once told me, ‘Productboard parties are legendary?’”

 

Semicolons

Try to avoid semicolons in product writing. However, you can use these when writing long form copy like blog articles, or even across social media.
Semicolons are used to connect independent clauses, as a conjunction between these clauses, as a transitional phrase and to separate items in a list:

• We have a release tomorrow; I can’t go out tonight.
• I need a quiet place to sit and think; I’ll go nap in those comfy spaces in The Square.
• The Productboard dinner included cocktails with tequila, vodka, or whiskey; entrees centered around meat, seafood, or vegetables; and two desserts, which we could order with or without ice cream.”

But, if this is a bit advanced for you, you won’t go wrong with an em dash (—) instead, or simply starting a new sentence works well too.

 

Text formatting

Use italics to indicate a title (like a book on product management) or to emphasize a word.

• Nir Eyal’s, Hooked. 
• Sophie really loves Productboard. 

Avoid underlining except for signifying a hyperlink. Don’t use any combination of italic, bold, caps, and underline.
Left-align text, never center or right-align. Left align headers and subheads.

Writing about other companies

Honor companies’ own names for themselves and their products. Go by what’s used on their official website.

• iPad
• YouTube
• Yahoo!