| name | flow-skill-write-prd |
| description | Guidelines for writing comprehensive Product Requirements Documents (PRD) |
How to Write a Product Requirements Document (PRD)
When generating or refining a Product Requirements Document (PRD), follow these
guidelines to ensure clarity, completeness, and alignment. This rule is designed
to apply "Prompt Engineering" principles—clarity, constraints, and structure—to
documentation.
1. Core Principles
- Outcome-Oriented: Focus on the value delivered to the user, not just the
technical implementation.
- Measurable: Requirements must be testable. Avoid vague terms like "fast"
or "reliable" without metrics.
- Unambiguous: Remove ambiguity. If a requirement can be interpreted in
multiple ways, it is a bug in the PRD.
- Living Document: Acknowledge that the PRD evolves. Mark unknowns clearly.
2. Writing Strategy (AI Instructions)
When asked to write a PRD:
- Analyze the Request: Identify the core problem, target audience, and
business goal.
- Ask Clarifying Questions: If key context is missing (e.g., "Who is this
for?", "What are the constraints?"), ask the user before generating the full
doc (see
flow-skill-conduct-qa-session).
- Drafting: Use the template below.
- Review: Check against the "Bad vs Good" examples in Section 4.
3. PRD Template
[PRD] {Title} {Status: Draft/Review/Approved}
1. Executive Summary
- Problem Statement: Clear, concise description of the user pain point or
business opportunity.
- Proposed Solution: High-level overview of the feature/product.
- Value Proposition: Why is this important? What is the expected impact?
2. Success Metrics (KPIs)
- Primary Metric: The one number that defines success (e.g., Conversion Rate
+5%).
- Guardrail Metrics: What specific negative outcomes must we avoid? (e.g.,
Latency < 200ms, Error rate < 1%).
3. Scope & User Stories
Target Audience: [Persona Name] - [Short Description]
| ID | User Story | Acceptance Criteria | Priority |
|---|
| US-1 | As a [User], I want to [Action] so that [Benefit] | 1. Criterion A
2. Criterion B | P0 |
Out of Scope:
- List specific features or use cases that are explicitly excluded to prevent
scope creep.
4. Functional Requirements
- Core Logic: Detailed business rules (e.g., "If user is unverified,
restrict access to X").
- Edge Cases: Empty states, error states, offline behavior.
- Data Requirements: Fields, validation rules, sources.
5. Non-Functional Requirements
- Performance: Latency, throughput, load expectations.
- Security: Authentication, authorization, data privacy (GDPR/PII).
- Compatibility: Browsers, devices, OS versions.
6. User Experience (UX)
- Flow: Describe the user journey (or insert Mermaid diagram).
- UI Elements: Key inputs, outputs, and feedback mechanisms.
7. Dependencies & Risks
- Dependencies: APIs, other teams, third-party services.
- Risks: Technical challenges, compliance issues, adoption risks.
- Mitigation: How will we handle these risks?
8. Open Questions
- List of unresolved questions that need input from stakeholders or technical
research.
4. Examples: "Bad" vs "Good" Requirements
Ambiguity vs. Specificity
- 🔴 Bad: "The system should be fast."
- 🟢 Good: "API response time must be under 200ms for 95% of requests at a
load of 100 QPS."
Implementation vs. Intent
- 🔴 Bad: "Add a blue button that says Save."
- 🟢 Good: "The user must be able to persist their changes. The action
should be prominent and follow the primary action style guide."
Error Handling
- 🔴 Bad: "Handle errors gracefully."
- 🟢 Good: "If the backend is unreachable, display a toast notification with
the message 'Connection failed, retrying...' and automatically retry 3 times
with exponential backoff."
5. Visuals
Use Mermaid diagrams where possible to illustrate flows:
graph TD
A[User Starts] --> B{Logged In?}
B -- Yes --> C[Dashboard]
B -- No --> D[Login Page]
