Harnessing the Power of AI in Product Management: A Deep Dive into PRD Creation with ChatGPT
Welcome to a world where creating a Product Requirements Document (PRD) is no longer a tedious task. As a product manager or anyone involved in software development, you’re about to discover a revolutionary method that will save you hours of work. This method involves the use of ChatGPT, a powerful AI model, and a technique known as prompt engineering.
In this piece, I’m going to walk you through a detailed example of using ChatGPT to create a PRD for adding a new feature to the onX Hunt mobile app. But before we dive into that, let’s understand the basics.
The PRD: Your Product’s Blueprint
A Product Requirements Document (PRD) is essentially a roadmap. It’s a comprehensive guide that outlines the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of a product you’re planning to build. Think of it as a storybook that narrates your product’s journey from conception to reality. Each chapter of this book details a specific aspect of the product, such as user needs, functionality, and success metrics.
So, what role does a PRD play in product development? Well, it’s like the director of a movie. It sets the stage, guides the actors (the development team, in this case), and ensures that the final product aligns with the original vision. It’s the go-to reference for the team when questions or ambiguities arise, preventing miscommunication and ensuring a smoother, more efficient development process.
I recall a project many years ago where the client conveyed all their requirements verbally and there were no written requirements. Without a PRD, we soon found ourselves on a different page from the client. A misunderstanding about whether to reuse some existing code led to a divergence in expectations. A PRD would have prevented this confusion by providing a single source of truth. Now, let’s explore how you can use prompt engineering with ChatGPT to generate requirements and create a PRD.
Harnessing the Power of Prompt Engineering with ChatGPT
Prompt engineering is a technique used to guide AI models like ChatGPT to generate specific responses. It involves crafting the right instructions or ‘prompts’ that lead the AI to produce the desired output. In the realm of product management, ChatGPT can be a game-changer, especially when it comes to creating PRDs. It can help automate and streamline the process, reducing the time and effort required. With prompt engineering, you can guide ChatGPT to generate sections of your PRD, ensuring consistency and thoroughness. It’s like having a 24/7 assistant to help you craft your PRD.
Creating a PRD with ChatGPT: A Step-by-step Guide
Now, let’s get practical! I’ll walk you through a real-world example of creating a PRD for adding two-factor authentication (2FA) via text message to the onX Hunt: GPS Hunting Maps mobile app using ChatGPT. At the time of writing, the onX Hunt Mobile App does not support two-factor authentication, so this seemed like a realistic use case.
We’ll start by creating a new chat using GPT-4 and the Link Reader Plugin. This plugin allows ChatGPT to read the onX website and automatically pull details about the mobile app.
Next, we’ll tell ChatGPT what we’re trying to accomplish and ask it to generate a list of requirements for adding this new feature.
“Act as a product manager responsible for the mobile app onX Hunt https://www.onxmaps.com/hunt/app. I want you to give me a list of requirements for integrating 2FA (two-factor authentication) as an additional layer of security for all customers using SMS text messaging”
ChatGPT will then provide a detailed list of requirements.
We can refine these requirements with additional prompt engineering. For instance, if we decide to use the SMS gateway Twilio for sending text messages, we can ask ChatGPT to update the requirements accordingly.
“Update the section SMS Gateway Integration to call for using the SMS gateway Twilio”
We can continue like this asking ChatGPT to make our requirements more detailed, break them up into sub-requirements, or shorten sections. Once we’re happy with the requirements, we can ask ChatGPT to create the PRD. For example,
“Help me write a PRD for these requirements with these headers: Subject, Introduction, Problem Statement, Goals and Objectives, User Stories, Technical requirements, Benefits, KPIs, Development Risks, and Conclusion.”
Now we have a detailed PRD for adding the new 2FA feature to the onX Hunt Mobile App in just a few easy steps!
Wrapping Up
As you can see, ChatGPT can significantly streamline the process of creating requirements documents like a PRD. All it takes is a bit of prompt engineering and a willingness to experiment with ChatGPT.
For more examples of ChatGPT prompts, check out the repo Awesome ChatGPT Prompts. A special thanks to @OriNachum, whose prompt on creating a PRD inspired this article.
