PRINCE2 Writing product descriptions
A product description is used to understand the detailed nature, purpose, function and appearance of a product. A product description should be produced as soon as the need for the product is identified.
When creating a product description, consider the following:
Product descriptions should be written as soon as possible after the need for the product has been identified. Initially, these may be only outlines with little more than the title and identifier as information.
They will be refined and amended as the product becomes better understood and the later planning steps are done. Therefore, early in planning, start to write your product descriptions and make them complete as soon as information becomes available.
A product description should be baselined when the plan containing the creation of the product is baselined. If the product is later changed, the product description must also pass through change control.
Although the responsibility for writing product descriptions rests officially with the project or team manager, it is wise to involve representatives from the area with expertise in the product and those who will use the product in question.
The latter should certainly be consulted when defining the quality criteria for the product.
Successful product descriptions may be reused for other projects within that program or organization.
For this to happen, a library of product descriptions for reuse will need to be established and a mechanism for product descriptions to be placed in the library will also needs to be implemented.
The project manager should therefore revert to the library in order to see if any of the product descriptions within it are suitable for reuse and/or modification for the project.
If a detailed requirements specification for a product is already available, this may be used as a substitute for the product description as long as the requirements specification covers the components and meets the quality criteria expected of a product description.
Alternatively, a product description should be created referencing the requirements specification contents where appropriate.
Quality criteria, aimed at separating an acceptable product from an unacceptable one, need careful thought. One way of testing quality criteria is by asking the question ‘how will I know when work on this product is finished, as opposed to stopped?’
When using an agile approach, it is important to remember that the initial versions of product descriptions are likely to only address the purpose and quality criteria for the product, with the rest developed during the execution of the work package.
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