/prd-writing

Align with Stakeholders on Goals and Constraints

Impact: CRITICAL (Prevents misalignment that causes rework)

Identify all stakeholders early and align on goals, constraints, timeline, and success criteria before drafting the full PRD. Different stakeholders have different priorities — surface conflicts early.

Incorrect

<!-- Bad: single-perspective PRD -->
# PRD: Analytics Dashboard

## Goal
Build a comprehensive analytics dashboard with real-time
charts, exportable reports, and custom date ranges.

## Timeline
4 weeks

Problems:

• Whose goal is this? Product? Engineering? Sales?
• No mention of constraints (budget, team size, existing commitments)
• "Comprehensive" means different things to different people
• Timeline stated without stakeholder buy-in
• No mention of who needs to approve or review

Correct

<!-- Good: multi-stakeholder alignment -->
# PRD: Analytics Dashboard

## Stakeholders
| Role | Person | Priority | Key Concern |
|------|--------|----------|-------------|
| Product Owner | Sarah | User engagement metrics | Must show daily active users |
| Engineering Lead | Ahmad | Technical feasibility | Team has 2 devs available |
| Sales | Wei | Client-facing demos | Needs export to PDF |
| Design | Priya | Usability | Mobile responsive required |

## Agreed Goals
1. Show click analytics per short URL (aligned: all stakeholders)
2. 30-day timeline chart (aligned: product + sales)
3. Device/browser breakdown (aligned: product)

## Agreed Constraints
- **Team:** 2 engineers, 1 designer (no additional headcount)
- **Timeline:** 3 weeks (hard deadline: client demo on April 14)
- **Tech:** Must use existing chart library (Recharts)
- **Budget:** No new third-party services

## Open Disagreements
- Sales wants real-time updates; Engineering says polling every 5min is realistic
  - **Decision needed by:** March 28
  - **Decision maker:** Product Owner

Benefits:

• Conflicts surface before development starts, not during
• Every constraint has a source and rationale
• Open disagreements have owners and deadlines
• Timeline is grounded in actual team capacity

Why

1. Prevents scope surprise: Sales won't ask for PDF export mid-sprint if it was discussed upfront
2. Creates shared ownership: Stakeholders who contribute to the PRD defend it
3. Surfaces constraints early: Team size, budget, and deadlines shape what's realistic
4. Resolves conflicts cheaply: A meeting costs less than a rewrite