World-class product organizations like Apple have at least three rigorous requirements documents completed and approved by executives prior to launching any hardware / software product: a Marketing Requirements Document
(MRD), an Engineering Requirements Document (ERD), and a Product Design Document.
Whether you are building Internet based software products or
whether your focus is bringing to market hardware products / solutions or whether
you want to bundle hardware and software together into a set of solutions, crafting
industrial strength MRD (Marketing Requirements Document) and PRD (Product Requirements
Document) docs as a prelude to a successful product launch are key!
Along with relevant PRD templates, we have published below a sample UML
Use Case template, which you can use as a starting point for each iteration during
all your iterative software development activities. If you have the time, please browse
the iterative / spiral development handbook below as well. Our hope is that the e-book,
and the various templates provided below for free browsing will make your products and solutions world-beaters.
PRD Template - 50 Pages - Hardware Products
This industrial strength PRD template is focused on building
Hardware / Firmware products and solutions such as computer servers, PCs, chips and chip-sets,
routers and networking equipment, disk drives, mice, printers, monitors, cell-phones, PDAs,
set-top boxes, gaming-consoles, etc. Sample sections in this PRD document which is fifty pages in length include Manufacturing Requirements, Regulatory Compliance and Homologation, Customer Success and Use Cases, Brand (Counterfeit) Protection, Product Requirements including Upgrade / Transition / Migration plans, Product Strategy, Product Positioning, Market Dynamics and Strategy, Product go-to-market strategies, New Customer Launch and Anti-Competitive Launch, Cost-based Pricing and Competitive Pricing, Product Localization / Internationalization, System Performance Impact, Preventive maintenance / Sparing, IP (Intellectual Property) Licensing, Reliability, Availability, Serviceability, Responsive Supply Chain Design guidelines, Review Action Items, Glossary, and
References.
The MS-Word version of this template, which is 50 pages long, is currently priced at $50. To browse for free, please click on the link above.
PRD Template - 30 Pages - Software / Internet products This PRD template is 30 pages long, and is focused on Internet / Software products
and solutions. If your focus is
building applications software, Internet based SaaS (Software as a Service), etc.; you
will find the template really helpful to jumpstart your product development and marketing
efforts. This is the same
template cutting edge software startups and established software giants use to bring their
products rapidly to market in Silicon Valley.
The MS-Word version of the template is currently priced at $35, and browsing is free.
Use Case Template for Software / Internet products and solutions This UML use case template is industrial strength, which business users, CEOs of start-ups, and everyone in between who has never programmed a computer can use to synthesize business requirements as the first step of any software development iteration. Using this template provides the following benefits:
The example used to create the template teaches you how to map logical branching of thought into MSS - Main Success Scenario and Extensions. Frequently, software engineers complain that the Use Case is not logical, not complete, or has gaps. The format used, where multiple extensions can branch out from different steps of the main flow of events / MSS, allows for logical thinking.
Placeholders are provided for all possible supplementary specifications. One of the features of the enriched Use Case template is to provide placeholders for important compliments such as UI - User Interface. UI creation is as important as Use Case creation is --- if your engineers can't see it, they can't build it. Consequently, you will find that a separate row in this Use Case template is devoted to HTML mockups.
This enriched Use Case template includes placeholders for Open / Resolved Issues and Q&A / clarification rounds between the business analyst / use case writer and the programmers / software engineers. After reading Use Cases, engineers always have multiple complaints, chief among which are a couple: the requirements are not clear, and the requirements are not complete. Using our template and following through on these items helps the business rules formulator / business analyst / Use Case writer down the line.
Throughout the template, Notes are provided to aid the writer with important Use Case writing tasks, making self-help easier to practice and execute while learning how to write good Use Cases.
Bottom line: Develop your use cases to the level of detail required by your software architects and engineers, and no more. Please use our use case template and associated resources for all your software iterations. We sure hope you can do it without our help; all you need to do is
buy this industrial strength UML Use Case template for $15 only
(browsing is free). But in case you need help from one of our in-house business analysts in crafting your Use Cases,
please ask us and we will let you know our current
rates for crafting fully-developed UML Use Cases.
Spiral Modeling / Iterative Development e-book
This e-book is sixteen pages long and elaborates current software development and management
methodologies. Software build / release cycles need to take into account not only the
productivity levels of engineers / developers and business analysts / product managers,
but also the depth and effectiveness
of the management team. Using agile development methodologies ranging from
rapid prototyping to
spiral model of software development, the build / release
cycle can be speeded up to meet market / customer demand. However, whether you
follow extreme programming or a more traditional
waterfall methodology,
time tested techniques like
Function Point Analysis (FPA) can be of immense use
in estimating and budgeting your build / release costs. Also, an attention to detail can
help you manage timely software delivery by more accurately scheduling and managing your
project tasks using PERT charting.
