PRD (Product Requirements Document)
A Product Requirements Document (PRD) is a document that describes what a product or feature should do — the problem it solves, who it's for, and what functionality it needs — before development begins.
In depth
A PRD bridges product strategy and engineering. It answers: what are we building, why, for whom, and how will we know it's successful?
Typical PRD sections: 1. Problem statement and background 2. Goals and success metrics 3. User personas / target users 4. Feature requirements (what, not how) 5. User flows and wireframes 6. Edge cases and error states 7. Out of scope (explicit exclusions) 8. Timeline and milestones 9. Open questions
For MVPs, PRDs are often lightweight — a Notion page, not a 50-page Word doc. The goal is shared understanding between founders, designers, and developers.
PRD vs User Stories: PRDs describe what to build at a feature level. User stories describe specific user interactions. Both are useful and complement each other.
Real example
PRD for 'User Authentication': Problem: users need to securely access their account. Goal: users can sign up, log in, and reset their password. Success: <2% failed login rate, <30s password reset flow. Scope: email/password only — OAuth deferred to v2.
Tools & calculators
Related terms
MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the simplest version of a product that can be released to early users to validate core assumptions, gather feedback, and begin learning — with the minimum amount of effort and cost.
User Story
A user story is a short, structured description of a software feature from the perspective of the end user, explaining who wants it, what they want, and why.
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