Documentation is important for ensuring effective software development and ensuring the product brings the expected outcomes. Among the most important documents, you need to consider is the product requirements document (PRD). In this blog, we are sharing what is a product requirements document (PRD) and how to create a great one.
What Is a Product Requirements Document (PRD)?
A product requirements document is a document that comprehensively outlines the requirements from a software product you are going to build. This allows for imagining the final product, being able to manage expectations, and knowing when the product has achieved the pre-set requirements.
Every member of the development team should be aware of the product requirements document to have an understanding of the bigger picture of the product and what needs to be achieved.
The product requirements document usually includes these main elements:
- Value: What is the value of the product, and how does it become useful to its users.
- Features: What specific features will be built during the course of developing this product.
- Timeline: How long will the development of the product last, and when is it going to be released?
The product requirements document can be updated at any time, as you have more feedback or information on the features you are going to build.
4 steps to create an effective product requirements document
Define clear values for the product
Any software product is built for a reason and to help someone accomplish a goal. You may already know this goal from the start, but you need it to be documented and communicated with every member of your development team, and this happens through PRD.
The outline of the purpose or the value of the product should include:
- Who can make use of the product?
- How will they make use of the product?
- What problems does the product solve for them?
- Will they want to use software to solve this problem?
List features based on goals or values
After determining the value of the product and the goals it is going to help its user achieve. You can list the features related to each of them. Then organize the features in any way that is accessible and easy to understand.
You don’t need to create a list that has 100% of the features you are going to build. The document can then evolve and be updated. As you gather more feedback while working with agile methodology.
As you begin listing the required features from your product, you need to reconsider any feature that you may have considered or seen in a competitor product and that isn’t essential for the product you are building.
Set clear release criteria and timeline
Release criteria will help you determine how you are going to assess the product you are building and when to finally decide to release it. Considered criteria can be the performance of the software product, including speed and the existence of bugs.
Other criteria can include usability, and whether the product can be used easily or not. Support should also be among the criteria that you consider as you need the product and each feature to work properly. Security can also be considered so that the product doesn’t compromise user data upon release.
After this, you need to define a development timeline. Estimating timelines may need more expertise than anything. So your experience with similar projects can help you to estimate how long the development of this one will last.
Use help from your team
Sharing the document during its creation with any of the team members that you choose, and asking for their feedback can help you create a better document. Instead of it relying on one point of view, it can rely on the visions of the whole team.
It is better if you collaborate on a single document and share your thoughts in one place so that you can maximize your productivity while creating the product requirements document.
Working with B5 Digital, we help you create a perfect product requirements document. You can ask us any questions about your upcoming projects from here.
