A product requirements document (PRD) guides business and technical teams in building, launching, or marketing a product.
But what exactly should you include in your PRD?
In this guide, we’ll answer that question and give you a free PRD template to ensure you start on the right track. Plus, we’ll highlight how our purpose-built product — monday dev — can help you manage your entire product development process from start to finish.
What is a product requirements document (PRD) template?
A product requirements document (PRD) template provides a framework for capturing the specifications of a product, including its purpose, features, functionality, and behavior. Product managers in both waterfall and agile development environments typically create and populate the template to ensure stakeholders are on the same page and provide a single source of truth for the product’s development and delivery.
What’s typically included in a product requirements document?
PRDs typically contain some or all of the following:
- Overview: The context and motivation behind creating the new product.
- Objective: The goal you want to achieve with your product and the problem it will solve.
- Audience personas: Who your users are, what they want, and how your product will solve a specific problem for them.
- Assumptions: Facts and estimates that will drive development, how you will validate the accuracy of these assumptions during the development process, and dependencies that might need to take place for the project to succeed
- Scope: Solutions included in your product, features and components outside the project scope, multiple phases of the project (if any), and possible expansion of the scope for future releases.
- Design: What the product looks like, how the wireframes fit together, and how your users see the solution in context.
- Deliverables: What the final product will entail, including whether you will deliver a completed product or released phased versions.
- Performance metrics: The KPIs you will use to measure the success of the project.
- Open questions: Any remaining product aspects to be discussed further and confirmed with the stakeholders.
You can personalize your PRD by selecting the sections above that make sense for your product, industry, and organization. Some project managers prefer a simplified version of the product requirements document, limited to just a few categories.
How to download and complete the monday.com PRD template
Use the monday.com PRD template to create an intuitive product requirements document and set the stage for successful product development. Organize your feature planning, including specs, audiences, steps, release plans, designs, and more.
Simply download the PRD template and populate it with your product details.
Complete the six sections to provide the background details and context for your product:
- Problem: Describe the problem or opportunity the product or feature will address.
- Target audience: Describe the specific target audience for the product or feature.
- Supporting data: Include any information reinforcing your argument on why you’re creating this product or feature.
- Hypothesis: Describe the theory or concept the product or feature should fulfill.
- Solution: Outline how you will test the hypothesis.
- Metrics: Determine how you will measure the success of the product or feature.
Once you’ve filled in the template, you can share it with stakeholders for further discussion and refinement.
Is a PRD the same as a BRD?
A PRD (product requirements document) differs from a BRD (business requirements document). A BRD describes the business needs of a specific project, not the purpose of product development. However, you’ll likely need a BRD to support project execution after you have an approved PRD in hand and the development cycle begins.
How monday.com can power your product development
Built on top of the robust monday.com Work OS, monday dev equips product development teams with everything they need to plan, build, and launch new products in one place. They can collaborate with stakeholders on product roadmaps, sprints, release plans, and backlogs to ensure project success.
Here’s what you can achieve with monday dev:
Save time with templates
Get started quickly with templates — including our PRD template — and a complete package of views, widgets, and dashboards designed to fit your development workflows.
Customize your workflows
Tailor your product development process around the exact workflow your team and projects require — including roadmaps, sprints, backlogs, bug tracking, and retrospective elements — in one place.
Collaborate with stakeholders
Utilize workdocs to write, share, and collaborate on coding requirements and share any board with team members or freelancers in a single, synchronized platform.
Integrate with your tech stack
Easily integrate with the tools you already use, such as:
- GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket to connect your repositories and stay on track.
- Slack, Teams, Gmail, and Outlook to keep everyone updated on the latest developments.
- Jira and Azure DevOps to control processes and enable transitioning at your own pace.
Automate manual work
Automate repetitive tasks and save time with 150+ pre-built, customizable automations to focus on task assignments, notifications, and workflows — e.g. “When an issue is created or updated in the repository, create an item and sync future updates from GitHub.”
Manage your product requirements with monday dev
A comprehensive product requirements document can keep your development teams on track as they work toward the project goals. With the monday.com PRD template, you can organize product specs, audiences, steps, release plans, designs, and more. And with monday dev, you can manage your product development teams from start to finish with everything they need to plan, build, and launch new products in one place.
FAQ's
How do I create a PRD document?
Creating a PRD document involves several key steps. Start by clearly defining the product's purpose and objectives. Gather input from stakeholders to understand user needs and business goals. Outline the product features, prioritize them, and specify technical requirements. Include user stories or use cases to illustrate how the product will be used. Finally, review and refine the document with your team to ensure clarity and completeness.
What does a good PRD look like?
A good PRD is clear, concise, and comprehensive. It effectively communicates the product vision and requirements to all stakeholders. It should include well-defined objectives, detailed feature descriptions, and prioritized requirements. Visual aids like diagrams or wireframes can enhance understanding. A good PRD is also flexible, allowing for updates as the project evolves, while maintaining a focus on the end goals.
What is the structure of PRD?
The structure of a PRD typically includes the following sections:
Overview: Context and motivation for the new product
Objective: Product goal and problem it solves
Audience Personas: Target users and their needs
Assumptions: Key facts, validation plans, and dependencies
Scope: Included solutions, exclusions, and future expansions
Design: Product appearance and user interaction
Deliverables: Final product details and release plan
Performance Metrics: KPIs for success measurement
Open Questions: Unresolved issues for stakeholder discussion
Try monday dev