Why create a mobile app Product Requirement Document in advance?

Ideas are no one's monopoly, and when we see millions of unique mobile apps, it resonates with the quote. Every day, thousands of apps are uploaded on Play Stores, but not all of them are competent enough to survive. Countless apps fail to succeed due to poor user experiences, irrelevancy, failure to identify audience needs, lack of originality, poor promotions & app launching, and various additional issues.

You don't want your app to fail. An idea in which you have invested money, time, and energy must survive and excel in serving the core business objective. What to do then? The answer is a carefully-crafted PRD.

Product Requirements Document:

What is a Product Requirements Document? In the context of mobile app development, the Product Requirements Document is nothing but a roadmap of the app. It incorporates all the vital aspects of the cellular app development process, including the app's purpose and scope, market assessment, functional requirements, usability requirements, possible constraints, technology dependencies, performance metrics, and product evaluations.

Let’s understand it with the example. Your client asks you to add a filter in the app while searching for products. The client might think of it as a simple task, but it is not. They don't know the amount of hard work you have to put to design, develop, code, and test the simple feature.

Here, a PRD document comes to your rescue. The material has features that are broken in separate tasks required to build the feature. It allows you to track the progress of a particular function to be constructed and also gives you an estimated time to complete the task.

Also, a detailed PRD will help you to deliver the project on time by sticking to the deadline mentioned in the document. If in case, you derail for a day or two due to uncontrollable circumstances, you will be back on track following the PRD document.

In short, a PRD is a technical document specifying what a product should do. The product manager or developer creates it after carefully evaluating business objectives, problems, purposes. It is always written from a user's point of view.

Why create a PRD in advance?

Business Feasibility:

Having an idea is one thing, and evaluating its business feasibility is altogether a different thing. It is very significant to evaluate every single business idea that takes birth in your mind. Developing an app without examining business feasibility will lead you nowhere.

Mobile app development demands a thoroughly conducted research and evaluation and its scalability in the market. With a PRD, you have all the data available on a single document, making it easy for you to assess it to decide better. A product manager will ensure that all the facts are verified thoroughly to verify the potential of the plan and to determine whether to go ahead or not. It will save you from making unwanted risks.

Technical feasibility

Every day, thousands of apps are developed and uploaded on play stores. Not all of them succeed to gain users' attention and appreciation. It is because the failed apps were not checked from the technical feasibility POW. It is the core reason it would not work. You need to check out whether the idea is technically feasible or not.

Technical feasibility is a broader term, and it covers many things. A PRD will contain all the technical requirements that are required to build an app. It will also help your app developers to understand the framework necessary to develop an app.

Generally, a PRD has technical requirements such as technologies to be used, backward systems integration, third-party software dependencies, maintenance and support needs, additional technical support information, and agile mobile app development process with micro details about each part and other considerations.

The best part about putting all technical information on a paper is that you will be able to identify possible constraints that might emerge during the development process. It will help you to plan to overcome such limitations.

Clear and Effective Communication:

Mobile app development is all about teamwork. From architecture building to coding to UI/UX development to testing, each department should work in sync to produce a robust and excellent app that serves the core purpose. Sometimes, poor communication can lead to chaos.

With a PRD, it can be avoided. It strengthens communication amongst departments to avoid any misunderstandings. With a PRD, a product manager knows what the clients are looking for, and hence, he would be able to communicate with fellow team members to produce precisely what they have asked for.

Change management:

Developers must know that changes during the mobile app development process are foreseeable. Sometimes, priorities might change, or a client might ask for additional functionalities. It is a prominent part of the process.

However, while making changes in the app functionalities or design or architecture, a developer should not forget the original concept and purpose of the app. If he forgets, you might lose the whole purpose of developing an app.

A PRD can come to the rescue at such times. It has the original requirements specified in the document that helps the developer to keep in mind while making changes. It will also save precious time and cost too.

Risk Mitigation

Sticking to the original budget is very imperative for you. Sometimes, due to improper resource allocation, you might jeopardize the whole project as it goes over-budget. A PRD can avoid such risks. A well-planned PRD will give you a complete overview of the budget to assist you in planning and allocating resources properly at the initial stage of the mobile app development.

Also, a PRD will not let your project goes beyond the defined purpose as it is well-documented. Developers will stick to the original requirements and will not lose the vision of the app.

Monitor the Development Progress

A PRD document has all the tasks, including the micro details, specified carefully to help developers understand the project requirements. With it, you will be able to monitor the app development process more comfortable. Effective communication with the developers will ensure app deployment within the tentative deadline.

Elimination of Ambivalence

Ambivalence is apparent when the initial documentation is not there to help developers understand the project requirements and purposes. A PRD will eliminate the possibility of any doubt as it has everything that a developer is looking for to create a highly-functional app that serves the business objectives. The app development process would be more seamless and streamlined when there is a PRD available.

Wrapping Up:

Remember that mobile app development is a tedious task that takes months of planning, research, and development. There is no place for any errors there as it might cost you a lot, in the worst case, losing a client. Most of the mistakes naturally come from miscommunication, and it can be avoided by writing a Product Requirements Document before you start working on app development. It saves a lot of time for developers to understand the objective and purpose of the app development. For this reason, PRD becomes an important part of the development process in top-rated mobile app development companies.