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Glossary
Roles & process

What is Product Requirements Document (PRD)?

A Product Requirements Document (PRD) is a foundational guide that outlines the purpose, features, and behavior of a specific product or feature set. It serves as a single source of truth for the development team, ensuring that everyone understands the goals and constraints of a project before code is written.

When to use it

Use a PRD when moving from a high-level idea to the execution phase of a major feature or new product. It solves the problem of misalignment between stakeholders, designers, and engineers by clarifying the target user outcomes and functional requirements. This ensures the team builds the right solution to the problem identified during discovery.

Example

A SaaS team planning a new 'Automated Workflow' feature for Q3 would write a PRD to detail specific triggers, user interface requirements, and success metrics. For example, the document might specify that the system must support 15 unique triggers and handle up to 5,000 requests per minute. This document prevents the engineering team from building a manual system when the business goal was full automation. It also allows stakeholders to sign off on the scope before design work starts, reducing the risk of costly mid-development changes.

How Planet Roadmap helps with Product Requirements Document (PRD)

Planet Roadmap lets you attach PRD documentation directly to epics and tasks in the Gantt or Table views, ensuring that development progress remains strictly aligned with the original project requirements.

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FAQ

How is a PRD different from a Market Requirements Document (MRD)?
An MRD focuses on the business opportunity and market demand (the 'who' and 'why' from a sales perspective), whereas a PRD focuses on the specific capabilities and user experience required to solve those problems (the 'what' for the product team).
Should a PRD include technical implementation details?
No, a PRD should remain technology-agnostic; it describes the functional requirements and user outcomes, while the technical design document (TDD) describes the specific architecture and code structure used to achieve them.

Related terms

User StoryAcceptance CriteriaProduct StrategyEpicRoadmapMinimum Viable Product (MVP)Product Manager

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