How to Write a Great Product Requirements Document (PRD)
Any aspiring Product Owner looking to build a great software product could be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed. A quick Google search turns up a lot of conflicting, dated examples for Product Requirements Documents (PRD). That’s because people used to follow the Waterfall methodology and define everything their software would do at the outset (think bloated Use Cases and UML diagrams).
We don’t want to waste precious time trying to define every possible thing your software will do and, quite frankly, no one likes writing (or reading) a verbose PRD.
In this article, we’ll share how to write an effective PRD that will help you speed up development and ensure you ship the right features to your users. Referencing our easy-to-implement PRD approach, we’ll go over how to define goals, understand the user journey, and map out detailed requirements. We’ll also explain how PRDs can help facilitate getting a reasonably accurate estimate for your project.
Product Requirements Document Template
By making a copy of our PRD template, you can see a completed example and create your own PRD as you follow along. And if you’re interested in calculating a rough cost breakdown for your project, check out our estimation template as well.
Table Of Contents
- Product Requirements Document Template
- Why do Agile Teams Need a Product Requirements Document?
- What is a Product Requirements Document (PRD)?
- Why Do I Need to Write a PRD?
- Embracing an MVP and A Bare Minimum Framework
- 7 Steps to Write an Effective PRD
- Additional Sections for Writing a Great PRD
- PRD Final Thoughts and Resources
Why do Agile Teams Need a Product Requirements Document?
Today, savvy project managers have shifted to the new, agile side of the spectrum where the product is released quickly, feedback is obtained and improvements are made iteratively. While I am a big believer in agile and Scrum, it is not sensible to just hire a development team and start building features without knowing what you are getting into.
On the whole, I believe that agile is a better methodology than Waterfall, but I think in many cases we have swung too far to the “agile” side of the pendulum and still will benefit from a micro-dose of planning before we just dive in and start developing.
When determining requirements, we want to strike the right balance between being prepared and being agile. In other words, the bare minimum effort that is needed to start building a great product.
