A Product Requirements Document (PRD) is a document that outlines all the requirements for a certain product, including its purpose, features, functionality, and behavior. It is usually written by the product manager as one of the first steps in the product development process. The PRD serves as a guide for business and technical teams to help build, launch, or market the product. It is a living document that everyone on the development team contributes to and refers to throughout the development process. The PRD may follow on the heels of a Marketing Requirements Document (MRD), which describes customer demand, market opportunity, and a business case for the overall product or a particular product release. The PRD itself does not touch on market opportunity or revenue but is instead firmly rooted in use cases and desired functionality. A PRD typically contains some or all of the following components:
- Overview: The basics of what you are building, including status, team members, and release date.
- Objective: Strategic alignment, including organizational goals or initiatives.
- Context: Customer personas, use cases, competitive landscape, and other supporting material that will help the team develop a deeper understanding of the product.
- Features: A list of features that the product should have, along with a description of each feature and how it will benefit the user.
- User Stories: A description of how the user will interact with the product, including specific scenarios and use cases.
- Acceptance Criteria: A set of criteria that must be met for each feature to be considered complete.
- Non-Functional Requirements: Requirements that are not related to specific features, such as performance, scalability, and security.
A PRD is an essential tool for product managers to ensure that everyone involved in the product development process is aligned and working towards the same goals.
