A Product Requirements Document (PRD) is one of the most essential documents in product work. It sets out the plans for a team that is ready to move from ideation to implementation of a feature or product.
The purpose of a PRD is to build a shared understanding of the reasons, process and outcome of the project and to answer all related questions so that stakeholders and the team have a common, synchronized view. It therefore touches all stages of product work: Discovery → Delivery → Analysis.
Signs of a good PRD:
- The level of detail is sufficient to make concrete decisions. It isn’t a formal piece of paper for a presentation or report but a guide to action.
- The audience is everyone involved in the project: It addresses the needs of the core team, adjacent participants, stakeholders and other important interested parties.
- Potential problems are addressed: It anticipates possible risks, conflicts, misunderstandings and anything else that can be foreseen at the start.
There are many different approaches to creating a PRD. They mainly differ in the level of detail and length of the document. There is no universal solution, but you can choose a template from our collection that intuitively seems most suitable depending on the complexity of the project, the number of participants and the specifics of your company’s processes.
One‑page short templates (1‑pager):
— 1-Pager by Lenny Rachitsky + a completed version in Miro
— The shortest PRD by Intercom
Detailed PRD templates:
PR/FAQ from Amazon
We recommend paying special attention to the PR/FAQ approach, which originated at Amazon.
This format differs from a classic PRD in that it is created before beginning product development. It forces the team to validate the product’s value proposition and provide detailed answers about what the product will look like for the user.
In this article you can read more about PR/FAQ, and via the link you’ll find an example of such a document.
