Most product managers don’t got down to write dangerous necessities.
They’re underneath strain to ship. They’re surrounded by requests.
And so they’re juggling context, roadmaps, and Jira tickets—simply making an attempt to maintain up.
So what occurs?
We write what’s simple. What’s quick. What’s anticipated.
And that’s often… not sufficient.
At Productside, we’ve labored with hundreds of PMs throughout industries—and one theme retains displaying up:
When product groups don’t take the time for writing efficient product necessities, every thing downstream suffers.
On this publish, we’re sharing highlights from our current webinar with Tom Evans and Rina Alexin, the place we dug into why necessities go mistaken—and learn how to make them higher.
The Actual Position of Necessities
Let’s begin right here: a requirement isn’t only a ticket or a doc.
It’s a shared understanding.
As Jeff Patton places it:
“Necessities aren’t simply concerning the specs however they’re about making a shared understanding with different stakeholders within the group and particularly those that are going to be working with you to construct the product…”
So when PMs rush by necessities (or skip crucial interested by who it’s for and why it issues) what we’re actually skipping is alignment.
The outcome?
- Missed outcomes
- Limitless rework
- Annoyed stakeholders
- Wasted funding
Why Dangerous Necessities Occur (and Stop Them)
Most dangerous necessities boil down to three issues:
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Lacking context
-
A rush to options
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Specializing in output over end result
We’ve seen it too usually: a senior chief calls for a function as a result of “our competitor has it.” So the crew builds it with out questioning whether or not it suits the technique or delivers worth to the client.
Tom’s recommendation? Don’t problem—make clear.
Ask questions like:
- Who is that this for?
- What downside are we fixing?
- What end result are we making an attempt to create?
Your job is to get previous the function request and uncover the underlying objective. That’s what turns a request into an actual requirement—and that’s the inspiration of writing efficient product necessities.
3 Core Rules for Writing Efficient Product Necessities
In the event you solely stroll away with one factor, let it’s this:
Good necessities begin lengthy earlier than you write something down.
Listed below are the three ideas we emphasised through the webinar:
1. Begin with the Who and the Why
Earlier than leaping to what the crew ought to construct, make clear:
- Who has the issue? (Use personas)
- What job are they making an attempt to get accomplished?
- What does success appear to be for them?
This shifts the dialog from options to wants and results in higher options.
2. Give attention to Outcomes (not simply Outputs)
It’s simple to ship options. It’s tougher to ship affect.
Solely about 20% of product output really results in significant outcomes. The remainder? Impartial at greatest. Dangerous at worst.
That’s why we advocate working backwards out of your desired buyer outcomes and mapping these to enterprise objectives. Then (and solely then) must you outline what output (function, functionality, enchancment) will drive that change.
Need assistance visualizing it?
Take a look at our free Consequence Tree and Consequence-Based mostly Roadmap templates within the Product Chief Pack.
3. Write Necessities as a Dialog, Not a Guidelines
One of the best necessities aren’t bulletproof specs. They’re the place to begin for collaboration.
One technique to drive this? Story mapping.
Begin with a high-level person circulate for a single persona, then break it into steps and actions. This helps your engineers, designers, and stakeholders see how every thing suits collectively—and it surfaces edge instances, assumptions, and gaps early.
Story maps assist your crew construct shared understanding earlier than the primary line of code is written. And that’s the purpose.
You Can’t Write Nice Necessities With out Nice Discovery
Right here’s the uncomfortable reality:
In the event you’re not doing discovery, you’re not writing actual necessities.
Speaking to clients. Operating empathy interviews. Observing person habits.
These aren’t “nice-to-haves”—they’re the way you generate the context that makes your necessities invaluable.
Don’t assume your stakeholders have that context.
Don’t even assume you do.
Go get it.
(Need assistance? Obtain our Voice of the Buyer workbook—free and field-tested.)
TL;DR: Write Necessities That Really Drive Outcomes
✅ Begin with the issue—not the function
✅ Outline the persona, job to be accomplished, and desired end result
✅ Map output to buyer outcomes to enterprise objectives
✅ Use story mapping and discovery to create shared understanding
✅ Write much less. Align extra. Ship higher.
Write Much less. Align Extra. Ship Higher.
Wish to put these concepts into follow?
Watch the total webinar on demand to listen to the true tales and instruments behind outcome-driven necessities.
Obtain the Voice of the Buyer Workbook to enhance discovery and collect the context your necessities are lacking.
Discover the Optimum Product Administration course for those who’re able to grasp outcomes, story mapping, and strategic alignment—dwell, hands-on, and in particular person.
Are your necessities driving readability—or simply maintaining the wheels turning?
We’d love to listen to your take. Be part of the dialog on LinkedIn.
If you wish to get higher at this, be part of us in particular person.
Our Optimum Product Administration course walks by all of those practices—dwell, hands-on, and coached by senior PMs like Tom.
📍 June 17–19 | Austin, TX
🎓 Contains AIPMM Licensed Product Supervisor™ examination
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