The number one goal of a Product Requirements Document is simple: it must define the product’s purpose above all else. Why is this product being released versus something else? What problem does it solve for end users? Why should the team care at all?
A PRD keeps everyone on the same page which is why the content/structure of a PRD may vary across companies.I have found that each company uses a different format, and some are just simply a wall of text.
Writing a Product Requirements Document
Gathering all the requirements requires doing some research and dedicating a certain amount of time to it. The process includes studying your customers, competitors, as well as the potential of your team and technologies. Getting all of these information involves different teams, like Customer Success, Sales, etc. and lots of meeting
Here, I have tried to structure a PRD based on best practices:
- Defining purpose
- Setting product features
- Determining technical requirements
- Preparing UI/UX definitions (mock ups, interaction definition, empty states, etc.)
- QA acceptance criteria (one or two paragraphs usually complementing the bigger picture for QA tests)
- Next steps
Best Practices for Writing a Product Requirements Document
Write from the user’s point of view
Describe the requirements from the user’s perspective. For this purpose, think of use cases and roles to describe your product requirements. Design Thinking may help in understanding the problem by putting yourself in the user’s shoes.
Use screenshots
A good practice is to use screenshots, layouts, or schemes to explain what is exactly meant. When it comes to a PRD, one screenshot is better than a long textual detailed document. Put as many screens/mockups as possible, helps people understand & capture what you are saying.
Write in simple and unambiguous words
Imagine you are writing a PRD for your colleague from the team of developers. Your goal is to provide clear explanations about the requirements, so that he can create a product meeting these specifications.Break long sentences into shorter ones.
Use templates
A PRD template can be really useful since it provides many advantages. First, templates use a standard form for the document, which makes the life of the development team much easier. Using templates also gives confidence that you have not forgotten to describe all aspects of your PRD.
Prioritization
In the case of a full-scale project, it might be hard to implement all the functions that were described in a PRD at the same time. That is why the author of a PRD must give developers the ability to decide which features are of higher priority and which ones can be postponed if necessary.
To do this, you can prioritize requirements by following the MoSCoW rule - must-haves, should-haves, could-haves, and will not have at this time.
Describe “What” and “Why” instead of “How”
Typically, it is the product manager who is responsible for setting out user requirements, as well as what and why it needs to be developed. As mentioned above, describing “how” may negatively influence the creativity of the development team. So it is advisable to avoid writing in-depth instructions on how to implement each requirement.
Review and update
Do not treat a product requirements document as a set of strict rules. Instead, be open and always ready to update your PRD with the suggestions from your colleagues. This approach will help you improve the document, and your team will be able to create better products.
Describe your target audience and niche positioning
A great requirements doc should describe the target audience and product positioning. Such information helps developers and other team members to introduce end-users and, as a result, create more successful products. It doesn’t have to be very detailed - just a few paragraphs will be enough.
PRD examples
Now here is the list of PRD documents that I found (I will continue adding new documents when I find them, so do share if you find something interesting). Most of these are sourced from one person or were available on the internet which means a lot of it was customized for their own teams.