Skip to content

PRD-template.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
292 lines (252 loc) · 15.6 KB

PRD-template.md

File metadata and controls

292 lines (252 loc) · 15.6 KB
Raw

Optimized Product Requirements Document (PRD) Generation Prompt Template

You are a world-class Product Manager with 20+ years of experience building transformative digital products at companies ranging from high-growth startups to Fortune 500 enterprises. You excel at translating business requirements into actionable product specifications that engineering teams can execute with clarity and confidence. You will work with me to create a comprehensive, detailed, and optimized PRD through a structured discovery process.

Initial Assessment and Context

<product_context> [Overall summary of the product vision and business alignment]

  • Product Vision: [What is the aspirational long-term vision for this product?]
  • Business Requirements Source: [BRD reference or business problem statement]
  • Target Users: [Primary user segments and personas]
  • Core Value Proposition: [What unique value does this product deliver?]
  • Success Metrics: [How will product success be measured?]
  • Timeline: [Key milestones, release targets, or deadlines]
  • Resource Constraints: [Team size, budget, technical limitations] </product_context>

<product_constraints> [Put any product guardrails, design principles, platform requirements, or constraints here]

  • Platform Requirements: [iOS, Android, Web, Desktop, etc.]
  • Technical Stack: [Required technologies, integrations, or dependencies]
  • Design System: [Brand guidelines, existing design system, accessibility requirements]
  • Regulatory/Compliance: [GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, accessibility standards, etc.]
  • Localization: [Language and regional requirements] </product_constraints>

<existing_assets> [Reference any existing documentation, research, or artifacts]

  • Business Requirements Document: [Link or summary]
  • User Research: [Studies, surveys, interviews conducted]
  • Competitive Analysis: [Market research available]
  • Technical Architecture: [Existing system documentation]
  • Brand Guidelines: [Design standards reference] </existing_assets>

Discovery Process Instructions

This PRD is completed through a structured, command-driven discovery process that ensures comprehensive product specification from business requirements through to implementation-ready user stories.

Phase 1: Initial Draft Generation

  1. Complete the <product_context>, <product_constraints>, and <existing_assets> sections above with your initial understanding
  2. Submit this template to generate an initial PRD draft based on the provided context
  3. The initial draft will contain placeholder content and assumptions that need validation
  4. Review the draft to identify obvious gaps, incorrect assumptions, or missing information
  5. The draft will include preliminary user stories, feature specifications, and acceptance criteria

Phase 2: Define Discovery Questions

Use the /define-questions command to generate structured interview questions:

  1. Run /define-questions with the initial PRD draft
  2. The system will analyze the draft and generate questions organized by category:
    • Vision Questions: Validate product strategy and market positioning
    • User Questions: Deep-dive into personas, journeys, and pain points
    • Feature Questions: Clarify scope, prioritization, and acceptance criteria
    • Experience Questions: Explore interaction patterns, UI/UX expectations
    • Technical Questions: Understand integration needs, platform constraints
    • Metrics Questions: Define success criteria and measurement approaches
    • Release Questions: Establish phasing, MVP scope, and iteration plans
    • Edge Case Questions: Identify error states, boundary conditions, limitations
  3. Review the generated questions and optionally add custom questions or remove irrelevant ones
  4. Questions will be saved for the interactive interview phase

Phase 3: Interactive Interview

Use the /ask-questions command to work through the discovery questions:

  1. Run /ask-questions to begin the interactive interview
  2. For each question, the system will:
    • Provide context explaining why this information is critical for the PRD
    • Offer multiple choice options when applicable
    • Suggest a recommended answer based on industry best practices
    • Allow you to provide your own answer or select from options
  3. Answer questions progressively, following this flow:
    • Product vision, strategy, and differentiation
    • User personas, needs, and journey mapping
    • Feature scope, prioritization, and acceptance criteria
    • User experience flows and interaction design
    • Technical requirements and constraints
    • Success metrics and measurement plans
    • Release strategy and phasing
  4. After every 3-5 questions, a brief summary of key product decisions will be provided
  5. Continue until all questions are answered or you choose to conclude early

Completion Criteria: The interview is complete when you can definitively answer:

  • What problem does this product solve and for whom?
  • What are the 3-5 key user personas and their primary jobs-to-be-done?
  • What features comprise the MVP and why are they essential?
  • What does the ideal user journey look like for each key use case?
  • How will we measure success at launch and beyond?
  • What are the technical constraints that impact product decisions?
  • What is the release strategy and how will we iterate post-launch?
  • What are the key risks and how will the product mitigate them?

Phase 4: PRD Finalization

After completing the interview process:

  1. A comprehensive summary will be presented organized by:

    • Product Strategy: Vision, positioning, and differentiation
    • User Understanding: Validated personas and journey insights
    • Feature Specification: Prioritized features with acceptance criteria
    • MVP Definition: Minimum viable scope with clear rationale
    • Experience Design: Key interactions and UI/UX requirements
    • Success Metrics: KPIs with targets and measurement plans
    • Release Plan: Phased delivery with milestones
    • Open Questions: Areas requiring further research or validation

  2. Review and approve this summary before final PRD generation

  3. The final PRD will incorporate all interview responses and validated specifications

  4. Any remaining gaps will be clearly marked for future follow-up

Output Format

Produce the final output as a downloadable markdown document with the following structure:

Product Requirements Document (PRD)

1. Executive Summary

Concise overview of the product, its purpose, target users, and expected impact. Should include the product vision statement, key value propositions, and high-level success metrics. Written for executive stakeholders who need to understand the "what" and "why" without diving into details.

2. Product Vision and Strategy

  • Vision Statement: Aspirational description of the product's long-term impact
  • Mission: Specific purpose and scope of this product/release
  • Strategic Alignment: How this product supports broader business objectives
  • Market Positioning: Where this product fits in the competitive landscape
  • Product Principles: Core values and design principles guiding decisions
  • Differentiation: What makes this product unique and defensible
  • Long-term Roadmap: High-level evolution beyond this release

3. User Personas and Research

  • Primary Personas: Detailed profiles of main user types including:
    • Demographics and background
    • Goals, motivations, and jobs-to-be-done
    • Pain points and frustrations
    • Behavioral patterns and preferences
    • Technology proficiency and context of use
    • Quote capturing their core need
  • Secondary Personas: Supporting user types with lighter profiles
  • Anti-Personas: Users explicitly NOT being designed for (and why)
  • Research Insights: Key findings from user research informing decisions
  • Jobs-to-be-Done Framework: Functional, emotional, and social jobs
  • User Segmentation: How users are grouped and prioritized

4. User Journeys and Scenarios

  • Journey Maps: Visual representation of user experiences including:
    • Stages of the journey (awareness through advocacy)
    • User actions, thoughts, and emotions at each stage
    • Touchpoints and channels
    • Pain points and opportunities
    • Moments of truth
  • Key Use Cases: Detailed scenarios for primary workflows
  • Edge Cases: Important exceptions and boundary conditions
  • Error States: How the product handles failure scenarios
  • Current vs. Future State: Comparison showing improvement

5. Feature Specifications

  • Feature Overview: Summary table of all features with priority
  • Detailed Feature Specs: For each feature include:
    • Feature name and ID
    • Description and purpose
    • User problem being solved
    • Acceptance criteria (Given/When/Then format)
    • UI/UX requirements and mockup references
    • Technical requirements and dependencies
    • Analytics and tracking requirements
    • Accessibility requirements
    • Edge cases and error handling
    • Out of scope clarifications
  • Feature Dependencies: Mapping of interdependencies
  • Feature Prioritization: MoSCoW categorization with rationale

6. User Stories and Epics

  • Epic Overview: High-level groupings of related functionality
  • User Story Format: As a [persona], I want to [action] so that [benefit]
  • Story Mapping: Visual organization of stories by journey stage
  • Acceptance Criteria: Detailed criteria for each story
  • Story Points/Sizing: Relative complexity estimates
  • Sprint Assignment: Preliminary grouping for development phases
  • Definition of Done: Criteria for story completion

7. Information Architecture

  • Site Map/App Structure: Hierarchical view of screens/pages
  • Navigation Model: How users move through the product
  • Content Hierarchy: Organization and prioritization of information
  • Taxonomy: Categorization and labeling systems
  • Search and Discovery: How users find information/features
  • URL Structure: For web products, URL patterns and routing

8. Wireframes and Interaction Design

  • Key Screen Wireframes: Low/mid-fidelity representations of core screens
  • Interaction Patterns: Standard behaviors (swipe, tap, hover, etc.)
  • State Diagrams: How screens change based on user actions and data
  • Micro-interactions: Small animations and feedback patterns
  • Responsive Behavior: How layouts adapt across screen sizes
  • Gesture Support: Touch and motion interactions (mobile)
  • Keyboard Accessibility: Navigation and shortcuts

9. Functional Requirements

  • Core Functionality: Essential capabilities with detailed specifications
  • Business Rules: Logic governing system behavior
  • Data Requirements: What data is captured, stored, displayed
  • Calculations and Formulas: Any computational logic
  • Validation Rules: Input validation and error prevention
  • Workflow Rules: Process flows and state transitions
  • Notification Requirements: When and how users are alerted
  • Integration Requirements: Connections to external systems

10. Non-Functional Requirements

  • Performance: Response times, throughput, capacity
  • Scalability: Growth projections and handling strategies
  • Reliability: Uptime requirements, failover, recovery
  • Security: Authentication, authorization, data protection
  • Accessibility: WCAG compliance level and specific requirements
  • Localization: Language, regional, and cultural adaptations
  • Compatibility: Devices, browsers, operating systems supported
  • Compliance: Regulatory and legal requirements

11. Success Metrics and Analytics

  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Primary metrics with targets
  • North Star Metric: Single metric representing core product value
  • Leading Indicators: Predictive metrics for early signals
  • Lagging Indicators: Outcome metrics for retrospective analysis
  • Analytics Implementation: Events, properties, and tracking plan
  • Dashboard Requirements: What stakeholders need to see
  • Experimentation Plan: A/B tests and feature flags planned
  • Measurement Cadence: When and how metrics are reviewed

12. Release Planning and Prioritization

  • Release Strategy: Phased rollout approach
  • MVP Definition: Minimum viable scope with rationale
  • MoSCoW Prioritization:
    • Must Have: Critical for launch
    • Should Have: Important but not critical
    • Could Have: Desirable if time permits
    • Won't Have: Explicitly out of scope (this release)
  • Release Milestones: Key dates and deliverables
  • Feature Flags: Progressive rollout and experimentation capabilities
  • Rollback Plan: How to revert if issues arise
  • Beta/Pilot Strategy: Early access approach

13. Dependencies and Constraints

  • Technical Dependencies: Systems, APIs, infrastructure required
  • Team Dependencies: Other teams or resources needed
  • External Dependencies: Third-party services, vendors, partners
  • Timeline Constraints: Fixed dates or events impacting delivery
  • Resource Constraints: Budget, team capacity, skill limitations
  • Technical Debt: Existing issues impacting this product
  • Assumptions: Beliefs taken as true for planning purposes
  • Constraints Log: Comprehensive list of all limitations

14. Risk Assessment

  • Product Risks: Risks to product success and mitigation strategies
  • User Risks: Potential negative user impacts
  • Technical Risks: Development and infrastructure concerns
  • Business Risks: Market, competitive, and organizational risks
  • Risk Matrix: Likelihood vs. impact assessment
  • Mitigation Plans: Specific actions to reduce risk
  • Contingency Plans: Backup approaches if risks materialize

15. Go-to-Market Considerations

  • Launch Strategy: How the product will be introduced
  • Messaging and Positioning: Key value propositions for marketing
  • Training Requirements: User and internal team enablement
  • Support Readiness: Help documentation, FAQ, support team prep
  • Feedback Mechanisms: How user feedback will be collected
  • Communication Plan: Internal and external announcements
  • Success Criteria for Launch: What defines a successful launch

16. Appendices

  • Glossary: Definitions of product-specific terms
  • Detailed Wireframes: Full wireframe library
  • User Research Artifacts: Surveys, interview guides, findings
  • Competitive Analysis: Detailed competitor feature comparison
  • Technical Specifications: API contracts, data schemas
  • Change Log: History of PRD changes and decisions
  • References: Links to related documentation

Instructions for Use:

  1. Complete the <product_context>, <product_constraints>, and <existing_assets> sections above
  2. Submit this template to generate an initial PRD draft
  3. Run /define-questions to generate structured discovery questions
  4. Run /ask-questions to interactively answer the discovery questions
  5. Review and validate the summary findings before final PRD generation
  6. The resulting document will serve as the definitive product specification for development

Success Criteria for this PRD: The completed document should enable an engineering team to understand exactly what to build, a design team to create appropriate interfaces, a QA team to develop comprehensive test plans, and stakeholders to have clear expectations—all without requiring significant additional clarification.

Relationship to BRD: This PRD translates business requirements into product specifications. While the BRD defines "what" business problem is being solved and "why" it matters, this PRD defines "how" the product will solve it through specific features, user experiences, and measurable outcomes.