PRD / spec
Builds on Topic 7.
What you'll produce
A PRD (Product Requirements Document) for the single most important item from your Now roadmap. It turns that idea into something a team could actually build — with a clear problem, user stories, and acceptance criteria — without dictating the implementation. This proves the Topic 7 skills: specifying the what/why (not the how), writing user stories, and defining a testable "done."
Instructions
- Pick one Now item from your roadmap (Deliverable 2) to spec.
- Write the why/who/what/success: the problem and goal, the target user, a short summary of what it does, and the success metric (how you'll know it worked).
- Write 3–5 user stories in the format "As a [user], I want to [action], so that [benefit]."
- Add acceptance criteria for at least the most important story — a checkable list including at least one error/edge case.
- Slice it: identify the thin, end-to-end first slice you'd ship to deliver value early (vertical, not "all backend first").
- Stay out of the how: describe requirements and constraints, not which library/database/implementation to use.
Worked example
(Item: personalized "why you started" reminder, from the habit-app roadmap)
- Why: Users lose motivation in week 2 and drift away (from discovery). Goal: improve week-2 retention.
- Who: New users in their first two weeks.
- What: A timely reminder that resurfaces the user's own stated reason for the habit, with a one-tap return to the app.
- Success metric: Week-2 retention for users who receive it vs. those who don't.
- User stories: (1) As a new user, I want to record why this habit matters to me, so that the app can remind me later. (2) As a lapsing user, I want a reminder showing my personal reason, so that I'm motivated to come back. (3) As a user, I want to control reminder frequency, so that it doesn't feel like spam.
- Acceptance criteria (story 2): reminder fires only after 2 days of inactivity; shows the user's own reason text; one tap opens the habit; if no reason was set, falls back to a neutral nudge (edge case); user can turn it off.
- First slice: A user can set a reason and receive one reminder that deep-links back — no frequency controls yet.
Rubric
Levels: Needs work (1) / Solid (2) / Excellent (3). Passing = every criterion at Solid or above.
- Clear why/who/what/success — 1: missing parts · 2: all present · 3: crisp, with a genuine success metric.
- User stories — 1: tasks, not stories · 2: valid "As a… so that…" stories · 3: user-and-benefit-centered, well-scoped stories.
- Acceptance criteria incl. an edge/error case — 1: none/untestable · 2: checkable criteria · 3: clear, testable, includes error/edge handling.
- What-not-how discipline — 1: dictates implementation · 2: mostly requirements · 3: requirements/constraints only, leaves the how to the team.
- Vertical first slice — 1: missing or "all backend first" · 2: identifies a slice · 3: a thin, end-to-end, genuinely shippable slice.
- Coherence with prior deliverables — 1: disconnected · 2: linked · 3: clearly traces from discovery → roadmap → this spec.