PRD step

The PRD (product requirements document) is the detailed description of what will be built and why. On this step, Next drafts the PRD from the approved overview and requirements, using your organisation’s PRD template. The work is then shared out: each section has editors who write it and, once it is written, reviewers who sign it off.

Splitting the PRD this way means the people who know each subject, such as security, finance or legal, write and check the parts that concern them, while the owner keeps the whole document moving.

Before you start

• Open the item from Planning → Portfolio, and select PRD in the step rail. See Portfolio item.
• The step becomes available once the Requirements step is approved.
• The item’s owner generates the PRD, chooses editors and reviewers, and sends it for review.
• A section’s editors can change its content. If you have been asked to write sections, they appear in your My Work.

Understanding the page

The PRD is shown section by section, in the order of your organisation’s PRD template, numbered by chapter. Select a section’s header to collapse or expand it.

Under each section’s title, a chip names the department that reviews it. Hover over it to see Reviewed by the department department.

Beside the title, chips show the section’s status:

If you were asked to write some sections

If you are a section editor rather than the owner, you see only the sections you were asked to write. A note at the top says how many. The rest of the PRD is written by others. If you have not been asked to write any of this step’s sections, the page says Nothing to write here.

Generate the PRD

1. Optionally, select Configure in the action bar. Under Sections, choose which template sections to include and which agent packs draft each one. Required sections are locked. See Steer what Next drafts.
2. Select Generate draft.

Next writes each section in turn. Sections show a placeholder until they are complete.

Choose who writes each section

Each section starts with editors from the template’s defaults, or the owner if the template names none. Editors are listed beside the section as Editors.

1. Select the add-person button beside Editors (Choose who writes this section).
2. Search the team and tick each person who should write the section. Untick someone to remove them.

Each editor sees the section in their My Work. The owner can change editors until the section is marked ready. After that, the editors are shown as Written by.

Write a section

Editors have three ways to write a section.

Have Next draft it

If a section has nothing written yet, select Draft this section. Next drafts that one section.

Edit it yourself

1. Select the pencil (Edit section).
2. Change the wording in place.
3. Select Update, or press ⌘↵. Select Cancel, or press Esc, to discard your changes.

Ask Next to rework it

1. Select the sparkle button (Improve with AI).
2. Under What should change in this section?, say what you want, for example “Add the data retention rules”.
3. Select Regenerate, or press ⌘↵.

Next drafts a proposal. Your current text stays until you accept it. The proposal is labelled AI proposal — nothing is applied until you accept.

• Select View changes to see what would be added and removed, or View clean to read the result.
• Select Accept to use it, Try again for another proposal, or Discard to keep your current text.

Mark a section ready

When a section is written, its editor hands it back to the owner.

1. Select Mark ready on the section. The button changes to Ready, with a tick.

To take the section back and keep working on it, select Ready again. You cannot mark a section ready until something is written in it.

Choose who reviews each section

Once a section is ready, the owner picks who signs it off.

1. Select the add-person button beside Reviewers on the section (Choose who reviews this section).
2. Tick each reviewer. The list starts with the reviewers for the section’s department, and you can search the whole team.

Reviewers review the section when the PRD is sent for review. You can also assign reviewers for every section at once on the Review step. See Review step.

Respond to a reviewer’s suggested change

If a reviewer has suggested a change, a Suggested change callout appears at the top of the section, with the reviewer’s name and their reason. Select Accept to apply it, or Decline to keep the section as it is.

Send the PRD for review

When every section is ready and has at least one reviewer:

1. Select Send for review in the action bar.
2. Read the confirmation. It tells you how many sections go to how many reviewers. Sending approves your draft and locks the PRD: sections cannot be edited while they are out for review.
3. Select Send for review.

If some sections still have no reviewer, Send for review takes you to the Review step to finish assigning them first.

If your workflow has more than one PRD step

Some workflows split the PRD across steps, for example a business PRD followed by a technical PRD. Only the last PRD before the Review step sends anything for review. On earlier PRD steps, the main button reads Continue to next step and simply moves planning on.

Export the PRD

Select More (the three dots) in the action bar, then Export as PDF or Export as Word.

What happens next

• The PRD is locked while it is out for review, and the item’s status shows In review.
• Reviewers receive their sections to sign off. See Signing off PRD sections.
• Their feedback arrives on the Review step. See Review step.

Good to know

• An empty section shows the template’s description of what belongs in it, or This section hasn’t been drafted yet.
• The owner can withdraw the PRD from review to edit it again. See Withdraw an item from review.
• Each section has a link icon showing the sources Next drew on. See Evidence, impact and history.

Related pages

• Portfolio item
• Requirements step
• Review step
• Signing off PRD sections
• My Tasks
• Departments
• Governance: Review