Reviewing a Product Requirements Document
Evaluate a PRD for quality — not agreement with a preferred solution. Focus on whether it's complete, clear, and actionable.
Quick Reference
- Input: A PRD (from
create-prdor existing document). - Output: Findings as Critical, Suggestion, or Note.
- Checks: Completeness, testability, ambiguity, feasibility, edge cases, dependencies.
- Rule: Every finding cites the specific PRD section as evidence; redact sensitive data rather than reproducing it verbatim.
HARD-GATE
DO NOT review the idea — review the document's quality.
DO NOT suggest alternative solutions unless a requirement is infeasible.
EVERY finding MUST cite the specific PRD section, line, or requirement — if the cited text contains sensitive data (API keys, tokens, passwords, credentials), abstract or redact it rather than reproducing it verbatim.
Core Process
- Receive the PRD — from
create-prd, user document, or/tasks/prd-*.md. - Scan the checklist (see Review Checklist below) — covers completeness, testability, clarity, feasibility, scope, dependencies, and edge cases.
- Classify: Critical (blocks implementation), Suggestion (improves it), Note (observation).
- Produce — findings table with severity, evidence, and recommendation.
- Verdict: Approved / Approved with Suggestions / Needs Revision.
- Feedback loop: If verdict is Needs Revision, instruct the author to address Critical findings and resubmit. Re-run this review on the updated PRD before proceeding downstream.
Review Checklist
Apply all applicable items. Skip items that are genuinely not relevant to the PRD's domain.
Completeness
- Goals and success metrics are stated and measurable.
- All in-scope features are listed; out-of-scope is explicit.
- Actors / user roles are identified.
- Non-functional requirements (performance, security, accessibility) are present.
Testability
- Each requirement can be verified with a concrete pass/fail test.
- Acceptance criteria are specific (no vague words like "fast", "easy", "good").
- Edge cases and error states are addressed.
Clarity
- No undefined acronyms or jargon without a glossary entry.
- No ambiguous modal verbs ("should" vs. "must" vs. "may").
- Contradictions between sections are absent.
Feasibility
- Timeline and milestones are realistic given stated scope.
- Dependencies (systems, teams, data) are identified.
- Technical constraints or assumptions are explicit.
Scope & Edge Cases
- Rollback / failure scenarios are described.
- Data migration or compatibility concerns are addressed if applicable.
- Regulatory or compliance requirements are noted if applicable.
Output Style
- Verdict — Approved / Approved with Suggestions / Needs Revision.
- Findings table —
| # | Severity | Section | Finding | Evidence | Recommendation | - Summary — count by severity + one-paragraph assessment.
- What's Good — acknowledge well-written sections.
- English only unless user requests otherwise.
Example Findings Table
| # | Severity | Section | Finding | Evidence | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Critical | §3 Acceptance Criteria | "The page must load quickly" is not testable — no threshold defined. | §3: "The dashboard shall load quickly under normal conditions." | Replace with a measurable SLA, e.g. "Dashboard initial load ≤ 2 s at p95 on a 10 Mbps connection." |
| 2 | Suggestion | §5 Dependencies | External payments API dependency is mentioned but no fallback behavior is specified. | §5: "Integration with PaymentsProvider v2 API." | Add a requirement describing user-facing behavior when the API is unavailable (timeout, retry, graceful error). |
| 3 | Note | §1 Goals | Success metric for user adoption is aspirational but not tied to a measurement method. | §1: "Achieve high user adoption within 90 days." | Consider specifying the data source (e.g. analytics event) used to measure adoption. |
Integration
| Skill | When to chain |
|---|---|
| create-prd | Review immediately after PRD generation |
| generate-tasks | After review passes, proceed to task breakdown |
| tech-lead persona | For deeper feasibility and estimation quality review |
Source: igmarin/agnostic-planning-skills — distributed by TomeVault.