Product requirements document
lastmod 2026-01-31created 2021-01-225 edits
A product requirements document (PRD) is a document containing all the requirements for a particular product. It is written so that people can understand what the product should do. A PRD, however, generally avoids anticipating or defining how the product will do it, so that interface designers and engineers can later use their expertise to provide the optimal solution to the requirements.
PRDs are most often written for software products, but they can be used for any kind of product or service.
How to write a product requirements document
A PRD (Product requirement document) written by a product manager is meant to answer the following key questions.
- Why should we do this project? (WHY)
- How should we approach this problem? (HOW)
- What is the most suitable solution? (WHAT)
The main purpose of a PRD is to move the team forward together toward building the right product and delivering it well to users. Used well, a PRD can be a great product development tool no matter which development process you follow. This post introduces a few tips for getting the most out of a PRD.
What should go into a PRD?
In its most basic form, a PRD can be seen as a simple document containing the following sections.
- Summary and Background
- What is the problem and why does it matter? It is also good to include business metrics, user research, or other insights that highlight the importance of this project.
- Target Users
- Who is this solution for? Why do these users matter, and why should their pain points be prioritized?
- Critical User Journeys (CUJs)
- What will users gain when the problem is solved? Focus on user needs rather than specific solutions.
- Functional requirements
- Write out the detailed plan for the solution. As a PM it is important to detail the functional requirements, but avoid pushing a particular solution too hard.
- Supporting documents
- You will discuss the detailed interaction design and technical implementation of the solution with designers and engineers. Link related UX flows or engineering design documents in the PRD so they can be referenced.
- Go-to-market
- Describe the various considerations related to launching the feature, and what customer-facing teams such as marketing, sales, and CS expect after launch.
See also
- Documentation
- Product Management
- Task-master-ai (MCP)
- Github Actions
- Ralph - An autonomous AI agent that runs repeatedly until every PRD item is complete