Product Requirement Document in product management universe (tech products)

Let’s jump straight in, I have broken down a PRD document into bitesize sections to help you gain an understanding of the purpose of this document and how to craft your own or at least make a start.

PRD document Overview

For me product requirement documents can be extremely useful in aligning key stakeholders with the purpose of a planned project. PRD templates can allow cross-functional alignment, but not only this, they can allow alignment between the product trio (Product Manager, Design, Development), and provide a clear understanding of the work to be done when the message is being cascaded out to wider teams.

What is a PRD template

Naturally Product Managers are inquisitive and do not often like taking on tasks or writing documentation without understand the purpose, after all if you do not understand the purpose, should you really be spending time crafting something? So, I am going for the simple approach, what is a PRD template? It is a document to outline key focus areas for a product and/or functionality.

Product requirement documents can allow alignment of cross-functional teams. A well written PRD document does not have to be war and peace, but it should, in my opinion include:

·      Objective

·      Release Plan

·      Features

·      User flow & Design

·      Analytics

Difference between a Product Requirement Document (PRD) and Marketing Requirement Document (MRD)

Whilst the PRD and MRD can in some cases be seen as similar documents they both serve different purposes. A PRD in product management contains all the requirements relating to a certain product or feature, the aim is to help stakeholders understand what a product/feature should do once developed and released. A MRD is a document that contains the details of the customers wants and needs for the product/feature being developed. It also helps you create plan to meet the needs and wants of customers and position the value the product/feature will bring.

Contents of PRD template

I mentioned above some of the key areas a PRD template should include in my opinion. I am going to elaborate in each area, just to try and help anyone who is looking at writing one of these for the first time.

1.    What is the aim of the piece of work (Objective)?

This should be clear and concise, a high-level overview of the product function or features that are going to be described in the document.

2.    What is the release plan?

Detail any areas that need to be considered as part of a release for the project you are working on. Include specific milestones which are achievable, and any feedback loops required for further integrations. Tools like Monday and AHA can be used to create a visual timeline for release plans.

3.    What are the key Features and Benefits?

Include a list of key features and benefits this work will bring to the product offering. Keep the lists bullet pointed and aim to have one to two sentences for each feature and benefit. This keeps it easy to understand at a high level and can provide beneficial when stakeholders review the document. It is also important to include any out-of-scope items as part of this section to ensure clear expectations for all the stakeholders referring to the document as a true source of information.

4.    Detail the user flow and design

In this section include a detailed user flow of how the user interacts with the product and what path the user is going to take. This should include the happy path and any edge case journeys to ensure all the flows have been thought through. Tools like LucidCharts and Miro can be really beneficial for user journey mapping. Try to include the specific market you are targeting and why. What in your discovery has helped you make this decision? For details around the persona’s, you can include use cases per persona type which will help later down the line with the MRD.

Make sure a link or images of the designs, be them low-fidelity or high-fidelity mock-ups to help the stakeholders visualise the deliverable. Work closely throughout the project with design and development in order to maintain a share understanding of the objective.

5.    Analytics

To some people this can be the most important part of the document. Here you should ensure that document any data and metrics supporting the objective of the document. You should also include any hypothesis you have to determine the success of the deliverable.This section should also show how you will measure the success of the product/feature.

Building a PRD in Product management

When building a PRD in Product management, a good practice is to create a template. Using a PRD Template can help you maintain the key information needed for the PRD to be crafted. You may find using the sections above helpful in your template. These contain the core details explained in a product requirement document. I like to ensure I have a versioning table in the document and a distribution table to help track who has seen the document. It is also important that you get reviews from key stakeholders as your create and update the documents contents.

Types of PRD documents

LinkedIn has a really interesting article containing different types of requirement documents and a summary of what can be included in each. I have added the link for you to have a read, to avoid information overload, and you dreaming about requirement documents after reading this blog - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/requirements-documents-purpose-who-writes-them-

Justas a quick overview these are the documents, they give an insight to:

·      Business Requirements Document

·      Functional Requirements Document

·      Market Requirements Document

·      Product Requirements Document

·      User Interface Requirements Document

·      Technical Requirements Document

·      Quality Requirements Document

·      Software Requirements Document or Software Requirements Specification

·      Customer Requirements Document

Summary

Atlassian a provider of products that improve software development, project management, collaboration and code quality summarise a PRD document as:

A product requirements document (PRD in product management) defines the requirements of a particular product, including the product’s purpose, features, functionality, and behaviour. It serves as a guide for business and technical teams to help build, launch, or market the product.

Some great additional tips when writing a PRD in product management:

·       Identify the"what," not the "how:" Get clear on the problem being solved and give engineers room to discover how to solve it.

·       Find the right level of detail: Provide specifications that are detailed enough that the product team can get to work, but not so detailed that no one takes the time to actually absorb the PRD.

·       Stay focused: Be disciplined about what you are committing to and why. The PRD is not meant to include all the features the product will ever include. You can add and enhance the PRD in time.

Overall,I think it is important you remember that this document provides a summary of the requirements for a particular product or feature. It can be a single source of truth to align stakeholders for expectations. My own experience of writing PRDs has told me each Product Manager will have their own style and “template” to ensure they capture the critical information. The first step is to get something down on paper and start crafting your Product Requirement Documents today!

Learn about PRDs and more as part of the PM School program here.