PRD Templates and How To Kickstart Your Product Development With The Right Resources

A PRD can be a wonderful tool for any product manager.

If you do it right, you can catalyze progress in your team. That’s because PRDs provide a clear overview of what a product should do, and who it’s for.

But it gets better.

A PRD can:

• Streamline development
• Align your team
• Incentivize critical thinking
• Declutter management
• Help you understand your target audience
  

However, it can get complicated.

You have to outline the product’s goal, the features, the MVP, the user interface, the user experience, KPIs…

Yeah, it’s overwhelming.

But you don’t have to do it alone.

We’ve got some templates for you. Read on to see how you can make this whole progress easier.

PRD Templates

Before we hand them out, a few caveats.

As long as you can create a good overview of your product, anything will work well. If you don’t feel up to that task, make sure you read our article on How To Create a PRD.

Besides that, you feel free to take these templates and edit them however you like.

They just provide a bottom line of what your PRD should include.

Bootstrapper’s PRD

This is the one for you if you’re in a rush.

The Bootstrapper’s PRD is a text document with the bare necessities of a good product requirements document.

But it’s not just a table of contents.

You’ll find a ton of explanations, suggestions, and examples of what your PRD should include.

For example, let’s say you’re a CTO with a lot of background in product development.

You might not be best equipped to detail KPIs.

Just make sure you take your time.

A rushed PRD won’t help anyone, it’ll just hinder the development process.

Sit down at your desk and really try to understand what your end-user wants. Then proceed to give it the general overview.

Also, don’t stray away from inserting the odd table here and there if it helps you outline features for example.

Click here to download the template if you want to knock the document in a day or two.

The Product Journey

This one’s structured the same, but it’s got more flair.

You’ll follow the same headlines:

• Scope
• MVP
• Features and Functionalities
• User Experience
• KPIs
  

But everything’s packaged in a beautiful pdf.

We even left some room for mock-ups and further explanations:

I know what you’re thinking.

I don’t need a fancy template. I just want a clear PRD.

But if you’re just going for a simple, table-filled document, you might be missing out.

Sure, some people would make the best out of a simple 2-pager.

But remember: the PRD is not just for developers.

If you’re outsourcing part of your business processes, you’ll need to pass this PRD along.

Plus, if you have investors, they might want to take a look at it.

It’s easier to pass the information along in a visually pleasing medium.

On top, our Visual Journey is not just about the design quirks.

You’ve got tutorials on everything that should be included in the best product requirements document.

So definitely give it a shot if you want to kickstart your product development.

Click here to download it.

Open Canvas PRD

If you’re not one for editing pdfs and fancy templates, but still want a nice visual experience, you can go for our Canva template.

It doesn’t have a revolutionary design.

But it’s easier to fill in than a pdf.

And it’s still presentable to a partner or investor.

Moreover, it’s got the same tutorials and helpful information as the Visual Journey:

If Canva’s in your toolset, make sure you give it a try.

Click here to edit it.

What To Do With These Templates

If you’re experienced with project documentation, the templates might do the trick on their own.

But if you’re just starting out (or if you’ve never written a PRD before) you might do with extra guidance.

So here we go.

Before you start editing these templates, make sure you know what a PRD should be like.

And it’s easy to get it mixed up, so let’s cover the main characteristics of a good PRD:

• It should be comprehensive. That doesn’t mean covering every possible aspect in-depth, it just means aiming to give general information on as many facets of the product as possible.

• It should be understandable. You’re not writing to impress a college teacher. Good documentation is always easy to grasp.

• It should add value. Don’t just mention general tips and hope for the best. After you’re done writing a product requirements document, re-read everything and make sure every section is worthwhile. If you’re just mentioning “our user should be happy with the result” you won’t help anyone.

• It should be customer-centric. Don’t create a PRD for your desired product. Sometimes what you want will overlap with what your users want, but the end-user should always be your top priority.

• It should fit your company. If you’re using waterfall development, create an exhaustive PRD, with every possible feature you want. If you’re in an agile environment, you can just create a template table for the first feature in development, then update the PRD once each development KPI is met.

In the end, if your PRD meets all of those criteria… do it however you want.

Get inspired by our templates, steal our wording or just ignore these templates altogether if you have a better idea.

The same goes for our PRD structure.

We went for:

• Scope
• MVP
• Features
• User Experience
• Key Performance Indicators

Because it’s comprehensive.

But if you’re not in charge of managing the development process, if you’re just the visionary, don’t bother trying to find KPIs.

Let the team deal with that.

Especially if you’re outsourcing product development processes.

In Conclusion

Use these PRD templates if they help you create better documentation.

If you’re still unsure about how to proceed, make sure you read our complete guide on PRDs. It’s filled with helpful tips and information about creating a product requirements document.

If you have a pretty good picture of how you want your PRD to look like, stop thinking about it and execute.

But before, let us know:

Did these templates help? How can we make them better?