Before they used to follow the Waterfall Model and define everything their software would do at the outset, We don’t want to waste precious time trying to define everything your software will do and now a days, no one likes writing (or reading) such a product requirements document.

Today, Product managers are shifting to the Agile methodology where the product is released and feedback optimization made in short span.

While I am a big believer in Agile and Scrum, it is not sensible to just hire a development team and start building features without knowing what you are getting into.

This article will guide you to write a precise product requirements document that will get you reasonably accurate estimate from any development company.

IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT?

Product requirements document is the starting point in the process of developing your new product. It describes all the specifications, features and functionality of a product, and also declares the conditions and stages for design and development.

Writing a good product requirements document is the most important stage in product development. You need to mention goals and objectives, as well as expected results of each stage of work, time required for the development of product, and any additional technical requirements that might be of needed when the actual work begins.

Remember that this is not a list of descriptions, but it is a technical document based on your research and extensive analysis to build the product with a main goal to minimize the risk of misunderstandings, and necessity of implementing changes due to those misunderstandings.

FOLLOWING ARE THE 7 STEPS TO DEFINE PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT:

A Product Requirements Document is the starting point for your product: outlining its purpose, who will use it, and how to use it and essential framework for design and development.

This article is for entrepreneurs and product owners who are looking to build a digital product.( To avoid sounding too vague I have decided to use examples from an e-commerce website, but this could easily apply to creating a mobile app or software program.

But while you are writing the product requirements document you need to clear your mind from all those future features and just try to define those that will be included in the first version of your product, following are the 7 basic frame work you need to follow:

1. Business Goals & objective
2. Target user requirements
3. Components & Sitemap
4. Product features
5. Wireframes model
6. Non-Functional Requirements
7. Future Improvement’s

STEP 1: DEFINING BUSINESS GOALS & OBJECTIVE

Explain general idea of the future product objective and explains why it should be developed in the first place Here are some common questions you can ask yourself in this stage:

• What is the purpose of the project?
• What are the problems it can solve?
• What is the product vision?
• How will it improve the current process?

Contact us to learn ask for Product Requirements Document samples

STEP 2: TARGET USER REQUIRMENTS

To create a valuable product, you need to answer who-what-when-how questions regarding your customers. The main idea here might be your ability to create a product that meets their needs. Here are some rules establish some rules to define user requirements:

• Fill up the details for end user profile
• Use there 5 profile frame work [Occupation, age, gender, location, education]
• Give each profile an objective or a goal that fits their profile.

You can use existing website with Google Analytics to help you create these profiles. It gives you invaluable information, you can see where your visitors came from, what keywords they used to find you, and what content and behaviors they exhibit online.

STEP 3: COMPONENTS & SITEMAP

Once you define target user requirements, you should have an idea of how to navigate your pages from application. The sitemap is the first step to documenting this.

A good sitemap has the following:

• A comprehensive list of all pages which includes everything from pages detailing information about products and services and a privacy policy.
• If you have an idea of how your pages relate to each other hierarchically, then communicating this will be helpful for designing the navigation

Create a sitemap that you can easily share with your stakeholders with Gloo Maps. Or can just use one of the free add-ons for Google Docs.

STEP 4:  PRODUCT FEATURES

In this step you should describe the features that will be included into the product in different stages. No need to describe all the tiny details, just provide the general understanding of the features you plan to start with, and what features you’d like to add later.

Let’s imagine that you want to start with a five-page website that includes a page with five products for sale; in future if you want to increase the number of products then, You need to include your plans in the document, as those who build the website will need to establish a such feature that can solve the requirement

STEP 5:  WIRE-FRAME MODEL

Basically, wireframes are layouts of pages that will give the general outline of elements and features on the page. In this no need to include fonts, logos or any other design elements, just the most basic information. It can even be a hand-drawing.

Wireframing is the most time-consuming step of this. For complex projects where serious design thinking needs to happen, wire-framing can be difficult

As the Product Owner you can wireframe by doing sketches on paper and taking a picture with your phone can work remarkably well. Entrepreneurs who have taken the time to learn how to wireframe and deeply think about how their product will work, their development projects have gone more smoothly.

STEP 6:  NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIRMENTS

The product requirements document defines how the software will function this part of the document defines requirements that is important to your business. In this stage you need to communicate any special requirements that the developers will need to take into consideration. Here are some examples:

• The application must be hosted on AWS/word press
• The application must use Stripe for payment processing
• The application must work with all modern browsers
• The application must be responsive in nature
• The application can be able to support multiple users simultaneous

STEP 7:  FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS

While you are writing the product requirements document, it is important to know the long-term plan for the business, you should document it briefly in the future improvements section so that it is not missed and developers can make sure the application can be extended in the future to support these key features.

Summary

Don’t get caught up in the jargon and the lingo. Try and write as clearly as you can by means of a user story that sums up the experience you wish to create for your customers. A well-written product requirements document is a crucial step towards creating the product you want.

If you need more assistance, feel free to contact an expert at Aptlogica.