How to write a PRD

Learnings
Written By Sakshi Gupta

Writing a successful Product Requirements Document (PRD) is a crucial step in the product development process. A well-crafted PRD outlines the product’s purpose, features, functionality, and behavior. Here’s a guide on how to write an effective PRD:

1. Define the Purpose and Scope

  • Vision Statement: Clearly articulate the vision behind the product. This should include the product's intended impact and its strategic alignment with broader company goals.

  • Scope Definition: Detail the limits of the project. Define what is within the purview of the product and, importantly, what falls outside its scope. This clarity helps prevent scope creep during development.

2. Identify the Target Audience

  • Demographics and Psychographics: Describe the target users in detail, including demographic information, behavior patterns, preferences, and motivations.

  • Use Cases: Present specific scenarios or use cases in which the target audience will interact with the product. This helps in understanding the product from the user's perspective.

3. Detail the Functional Requirements

  • Feature Breakdown: List each feature that the product will include. Describe the functionality of each feature in detail, including any variations or special conditions.

  • User Stories: Develop user stories that illustrate how a user will interact with each feature. This can help in understanding the user’s journey and the practical utility of each feature.

4. Outline Non-Functional Requirements

  • System Performance: Specify expectations regarding the system’s performance, including speed, responsiveness, and handling of data.

  • Reliability and Scalability: Define requirements for system reliability, uptime, and scalability to accommodate user growth.

5. Specify Constraints and Assumptions

  • Technical Constraints: Include any technical limitations, such as legacy systems that need to be integrated with or specific technologies that must be used.

  • Resource Limitations: Outline any constraints related to budget, staffing, or timelines that could impact development.

6. Include User Interface (UI) / User Experience (UX) Designs

  • Wireframes and Design Prototypes: Attach wireframes or design prototypes to give a clearer picture of what the final product will look like.

  • Design Specifications: Provide detailed specifications for the UI design, including color schemes, fonts, iconography, and any other relevant design elements.

7. Incorporate Technical Specifications

  • Architectural Overview: Offer an overview of the product’s architecture, including front-end and back-end components, databases, and server infrastructure.

  • API Specifications: Detail any API integrations, including third-party services the product will interact with.

8. List Dependencies

  • Project Dependencies: Identify dependencies on other projects or teams within the organization.

  • External Dependencies: Note any external dependencies, such as vendor software, hardware, or APIs.

9. Define Success Metrics

  • Quantitative Metrics: Define measurable success metrics such as user acquisition numbers, engagement rates, and revenue targets.

  • Qualitative Metrics: Include qualitative measures such as user satisfaction scores or feedback.

10. Approval and Revision History

  • Stakeholder Approval: Ensure that key stakeholders review and approve the document, indicating their agreement with the defined requirements.

  • Document Maintenance: Keep a record of updates or changes to the PRD, along with reasons for these revisions.

Additional Considerations:

  • Feedback and Iteration: Encourage feedback on the PRD from various stakeholders and be prepared to iterate on the document based on this feedback.

  • Living Document: Treat the PRD as a living document that evolves as the project progresses and more information becomes available.

Sample Product Requirements Document (PRD)

This is a PRD for feature enhancement for the popular iPhone journal app. While using the app, I recognized an opportunity to enrich the journaling experience and immediately set to work on a Product Requirements Document (PRD).

This new feature seamlessly integrates with the iPhone's health app, bringing together physical activity data and mood tracking within the journaling platform. My goal was to create a more holistic view of well-being, allowing users to see the interplay between their physical health and emotional state.

In the PRD, I outlined:

  • A user-centric approach to track mood and health trends.

  • The integration of fitness data to provide insightful prompts for journal entries.

  • Essential technical specifications for a smooth, privacy-conscious implementation.

Creating this PRD was not just about adding a feature; it was about enhancing the user's journey towards self-awareness and health. It's a step towards making journaling a more intuitive and reflective practice, one that adapts to the user's lifestyle and wellbeing.

Feature: Fitness Integration and Mood Tracking in Journal App

1. Purpose and Scope

  • Purpose: To enhance the journaling experience by integrating fitness and health data, enabling users to track their mood and health trends over time.

  • Scope: This feature will integrate with the iPhone’s health app to import health data into the journal app, providing users with insights and prompts based on their physical activity and health metrics.

2. Target Audience

  • Primary Users: iPhone users who actively use the Journal app and the Health app.

  • User Goals: Users who want to understand the correlation between their physical activities, health, and mood.

3. Functional Requirements

  • Data Integration: Seamlessly import data from the iPhone’s Health app, including steps, heart rate, mood records and workout summaries.

  • Health and Mood Insights: Generate insights based on the correlation between fitness data and mood entries.

  • Custom Prompts: Provide journaling prompts based on the user’s recent fitness activities and mood trends.

4. Non-Functional Requirements

  • Performance: Ensure the feature loads quickly and integrates data in real-time or near real-time.

  • Security and Privacy: Maintain the highest standards of data privacy, ensuring user health data is securely stored and processed.

5. Constraints and Assumptions

  • Constraints: Limited to iOS users with access to Apple’s applications as these apps as iPhone specific. User will not be able to access these on iPad and Mac.

  • Assumptions: Users have enabled mood tracking in health app and they are recording their mood changes in the app.

6. User Interface Design

  • Design Mockups: Include clear and intuitive interfaces for viewing health data, mood trends, and journal prompts.

  • User Interaction Flow: Design an easy-to-navigate flow for users to switch between mood tracking, health data, and journal entries.

7. Technical Specifications

  • Integration with Health: Utilize Apple’s Health APIs for data integration.

  • Data Processing: Implement algorithms to analyze health data and generate mood-related insights and prompts.

8. Dependencies

  • Internal Dependencies: Coordination with the app’s UI/UX design team and backend development team.

  • External Dependencies: Dependence on Apple’s Health API for data retrieval.

9. Success Metrics

  • User Engagement: Increased daily active users and time spent in the app.

  • Feature Adoption Rate: Percentage of users who enable fitness data integration.

  • User Feedback: Positive feedback and high ratings in the app store.

10. Approval and Revision History

  • Stakeholder Approval: Sign-offs required from product management, development, and legal teams.

  • Revision History: Document the changes and updates made to this PRD.

Sakshi Gupta
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