Writing a Project Requirements Document
We have been having discussions on how to write specs for redesigining of a currently existing site. I guess it needs a bit of experience to write one. You get hundreds of questions in your mind like:
1. If the current project is a redesign then one of the most infamous questions you would get is “Do I need to keep the design same as the current one?”
2. Functionality-wise should it be similar to the existing one
3. What should I give importance to? Time/ Quality / functionality / user interface designing??
4. If its a new project then usually there is a problem that you go off the track as you will have to imagine a finished product while developing the specs.
Well here are a few tips in overcoming these hurdles:
1. Think about your product and the features you would like to add but at the same time try to keep them realistic. I mean, I would love to develop a search engine like Google or a portal like Yahoo! but frankly how long would it take me to do it? And when there is Google and Yahoo! why would peope want to use my product?
2. Try to keep your product unique by adding in unique features but at the samtime try to maintain relevancy with the concept. E.g.. Quotes listing and company announcements on a finance site is related but not a Political news module on a finance site. Though political news would earn lots of clicks, its not related to the main product. So you would be missing return users.
3. Dont concentrate on the Jargon. Try explain the features in simplest terms you can think of.
4. Keep in touch. Yes, try to talk to as many people as you can to know what is going on in your field. Talk to engineers and web devs to see if there are any “Technical Cant Do”s
So Happy PRD writing!!