Catalog
concept#Product#Delivery#Governance

Product Requirement

Defines the functional and non-functional characteristics a product must meet to deliver customer value and achieve business goals.

Product requirements specify the functional and non-functional needs a product must satisfy to deliver value to users and stakeholders.
Established
Medium

Classification

  • Medium
  • Business
  • Design
  • Intermediate

Technical context

Product backlog in Jira or similar toolsTest management tools for acceptance testsRequirements management or traceability systems

Principles & goals

Customer centricity: derive requirements from user needs.Measurability: define acceptance criteria and metrics.Iterativity: develop requirements in small, verifiable increments.
Discovery
Domain, Team

Use cases & scenarios

Compromises

  • Over-specification blocks adaptability.
  • Missing traceability complicates changes and accountability.
  • Unclear acceptance criteria lead to acceptance conflicts.
  • Clear, testable acceptance criteria for each requirement.
  • Regular alignment between product, UX and engineering.
  • Traceability from goals to implementation artifacts.

I/O & resources

  • Market and user research
  • Stakeholder goals and business requirements
  • Technical feasibility assessments
  • Formulated requirements with acceptance criteria
  • Prioritized backlog items
  • Traceability between goals and requirements

Description

Product requirements specify the functional and non-functional needs a product must satisfy to deliver value to users and stakeholders. They act as a communication artifact between product management, design and engineering, guiding prioritization and implementation while balancing scope, quality and schedule. They also help validate assumptions and acceptance criteria.

✔

  • Clarity about desired behavior and success criteria.
  • Improved alignment between product, UX and engineering.
  • Reduced misdevelopment and earlier validation of assumptions.

✖

  • Can lead to rigid specification if overly detailed.
  • Requires discipline and stakeholder engagement.
  • Not all requirements can be fully specified upfront.

  • Requirement lead time

    Time from requirement formulation to delivery.

  • Acceptance rate

    Share of implemented requirements meeting acceptance criteria.

  • Post-release defects

    Number of defects attributable to unclear or missing requirements.

PRD for mobile checkout

Case of an e-commerce team combining performance and security criteria in checkout requirements.

Requirements for GDPR compliance

Regulatory requirements translated into non-functional requirements and tested.

MVP scoping in 2 weeks

Rapid prioritization resulted in a focused requirements set and fast time-to-market.

1

Conduct stakeholder interviews and capture goals.

2

Prioritize user needs and define core assumptions.

3

Formulate requirements and add acceptance criteria.

4

Iterative validation via prototypes and tests.

⚠️ Technical debt & bottlenecks

  • Unclear requirements lead to temporary quick fixes.
  • Missing traceability complicates later refactoring.
  • Unconsidered scalability requirements generate rework.
Unclear prioritizationLack of technical feedbackMissing acceptance criteria
  • Detailed PRD prevents rapid experimentation.
  • Requirements without acceptance criteria lead to misunderstandings.
  • Ignoring stakeholder feedback and implementing requirements rigidly.
  • Locking technical solutions too early instead of focusing on requirements.
  • Insufficient measurability of non-functional requirements.
  • Loss of priority due to too many equally ranked requirements.
Product management and user researchTechnical architecture knowledgeFacilitation and documentation skills
Solution scalability for user growthSecurity and compliance requirementsPerformance and availability targets
  • • Existing architecture limits and legacy systems
  • • Regulatory requirements and data protection
  • • Limited engineering capacity and budget