Write a PRD in 10 Minutes 💪

Don't wait for the magical "free afternoon" to write your PRD draft

The most basic deliverable for a Product Manager is a PRD (Product Requirements Document).

But most PMs can never find enough “head down” time to actually write the PRDs they know they need to write.

So let’s hack this process and see if we can write a PRD in 10 minutes.

“But!” you say…

🤔 Which PRD template should I even use??
🫨 How do I make sure all the details are included???
😱 There’s so much I still don’t understand about the product!

Let’s not overthink this.

The final PRD will need to have enough detail to allow our engineering friends to write a design document.

But we aren’t writing the final PRD.

We don’t need all the details.

We don’t need to know every single thing about our solution to write the draft PRD.

So put your phone away, close your work chat and email, and mute all notifications.

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Start with “Why”

Start from the beginning — why are you even writing a PRD in the first place?

You want the team to build something.

Hopefully this is something that solves a problem for your users and is good for business.

(If not, you don’t need a PRD, you need to keep thinking about your users and your business).

Let’s use this PRD to tell the team what you’re proposing:

1. Our users have this problem: ________.

2. To solve it, we should do this: ________.

3. Then, our users will be better off, like this: ________.

4. And this is also good for business, because: ________.

5. Here’s how we’ll know if it worked: ________.

6. And here are a few other things we considered: ________.
   

Now let’s go through these prompts in detail 👇

1. Our users have this problem →

What’s the problem, specifically?

It could be small, could be big, just describe it how you understand it.

Give a few examples of these users, if you have them.

Provide links to docs where readers can learn more about this problem.

Don’t worry about “cleaning up” these docs you’re linking to, they are just there to supplement your main idea.

🛑 If you can’t define the problem, you don’t need to write a PRD.

(You need a brainstorming session, by yourself or with others, to figure out some user problems).

2. To solve it, we should do this →

What exactly are you suggesting?

Don’t worry about the details, just the main idea.

Once you get the initial buy-in from the team and other stakeholders, you can write out the details.

For now you’re trying to paint an overall picture of what the solution looks like.

🛑 If you don’t know how you want to solve the problem, you don’t need to write a PRD.

(You need a concept doc, where you can explore the solution space by yourself and then with others).

3. Then, our users will be better off, like this →

Describe how the user experience changes when your solution exists.

Pay attention to the part of the UX that relates to the problem you referenced earlier.

Again, focus on the main idea — how is this solution better for users?

🛑 If you can’t tell how your users will be better off, you don’t need to write a PRD.

(You need a user journey map, where you explore the UX step by step, to understand where a user’s problems actually arise, and what the entire experience is like).

4. And this is good for business, because →

Now talk about why this is good for your product, organization or company.

Does the solution bring revenue, in the short or long term?

Does it align to the company mission or strategic pillars that you could link to?

Explain how the business benefits when your solution is implemented.

🛑 If you don’t know what “good for business” means, you don’t need to write a PRD

(You need to spend time understanding what success looks like in your org/company).

5. Here’s how we’ll know if it worked →

Include a simple metric that you can track to see if the solution is successful.

Ideally, this should be tied to:

a) the solution actually being used, b) the problem space actually getting smaller and c) the business value actually being generated.

You could also list a few metrics that each capture a piece of success (elements above).

🛑 If you can’t think of an appropriate metric to use, you don’t need to write a PRD.

(You need to work on projects that can be measured to set yourself up for long-term career success — if they don’t exist in your current org or company, look for another one).

6. And here are a few other things we considered →

You and the team have thought about other solutions before you decided on this one.

List these options, and explain why they weren’t chosen.

Again, for readers that want to dive in to your decision making, you can link out to the relevant docs.

Don’t worry about cleaning those source docs up; just summarize the reasons why your proposed solution is superior right in your PRD.

🛑 If you haven’t thought about other solutions, you don’t need to write a PRD.

(You need a concept doc or another brainstorming session where you can think through the solution space and write out the pros and cons for each specific solution).

Final touch

If you’ve made it through all the prompts — it’s time to write a catchy title for your doc.

Put it up top in the center, and boldly add “PRD [Draft]” after.

You’re now ready to share the draft with the team to gather additional input.

Ask your XFN team to leave comments, concerns and suggestions.

👇

“Hey team, I wrote out a draft PRD to tackle [Problem X]. This is a high-level overview, but I want to make sure I’m not missing anything before we go deeper. Please review by [Date] and let me know if I missed anything.”

OK, maybe that was 15 minutes.

But look at that fancy PRD you got! 🎉

That’s it for today — see you practical product people next time!
-Alex

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