I’ve created a complete, ready-to-use product design & specification template in Markdown, based on how I structure my own projects.

You can find the source and latest version on GitHub, useful if you want to clone it, fork it, or adapt it directly.

For convenience, I’ve also included the full template below so you can browse it without leaving the page ↓

🧱 1. General Overview

1.1. Product Name

Provisional or final project name.

1.2. Tagline / 1-liner Pitch

A clear and impactful sentence that explains the value.

1.3. Context & Opportunity

Market situation, project trigger, identified opportunity.

1.4. Problem Statement

User pain points, affected audience, frequency, impact.

1.5. Proposed Solution

How the solution addresses the problem + concrete benefits.

1.6. Differentiation / Positioning

Existing alternatives and why you are different/better.

1.7. Initial Constraints

Technical, legal, budgetary, time constraints, dependencies.

🎯 2. Target & Use Cases

2.1. Target Personas

🥇 Primary

Duplicate the block below for each primary persona.

• [Name], [age] – [role]
  Context: (situation, usage environment, current tools)
  Skills: (technical level, key practices related to the product)
  Pain Points: (frustrations, obstacles, real constraints)
  Needs: (desired outcomes, personal success metrics)

🥈 Secondary

Duplicate the block below for each secondary persona (if needed).

• [Name], [age] – [role]
  Context: (situation, usage environment, current tools)
  Skills: (technical level, key practices related to the product)
  Pain Points: (frustrations, obstacles, real constraints)
  Needs: (desired outcomes, personal success metrics)

2.2. Main Use Cases

Structured list of 3–7 key use cases (action verb + goal + result).

2.3. Scenarios

For each use case, describe a scenario:

• Title: [short name]
• Preconditions: [system/data state]
• Trigger: [starting event]
• Steps:
  • 1. [user action]
  • 2. [system response]
  • 3. [Expected Outcome (final state + metric if possible)]

📐 3. Features

3.1. MVP Features

Prioritized list of essential features required to deliver the first usable version of the product.

3.2. Mid-term Features

Planned features for 6–18 months after launch, aimed at improving the product or adding integrations.

3.3. Long-term Features

Features aligned with long-term vision, strategic evolution, or expansion into an ecosystem.

3.4. Out of Scope / Misc

Ideas or elements not part of the product itself (e.g., marketing website, landing page) or features intentionally excluded for now.

⚙️ 4. Technical Architecture

4.1. Tech Stack

• Frontend: Programming language(s), framework(s), rendering approach (server/client/hybrid), UI toolkit, state management, accessibility compliance, internationalization/localization.
• Backend: Programming language(s), framework(s), architectural pattern (monolith/modular/microservices), API style (REST/GraphQL/gRPC), core service responsibilities.
• Data: Databases (SQL/NoSQL), caching layers, messaging/queue systems, search engines, analytics solutions (OLAP/OLTP).
• Infrastructure: Hosting model (cloud/hybrid/on-premises), containerization/orchestration, CDN usage, object/file storage, networking setup.
• DevOps: CI/CD pipelines, testing strategy (unit/integration/contract/e2e), feature flags, schema/data migrations.
• Observability: Logging, metrics, distributed tracing, alerting/incident response, performance profiling tools.
• Security & Compliance: Authentication, authorization, secrets management, encryption, compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, SOC 2), audit processes.
• Performance: Performance budgets, target SLOs/SLAs, monitoring, optimization strategies.
• Key Dependencies: Critical third-party libraries/services/APIs and rationale for their selection.

4.2. Data Architecture (if applicable)

• Sources: Origin of data (internal systems, external providers), update frequency, reliability considerations.
• Modeling: Data models, schema design, normalization/denormalization, taxonomies, relationships.
• Ingestion & Processing: Acquisition methods (manual/automated, batch/stream), ETL/ELT workflows, transformation logic, validation/quality checks.
• Storage: Storage tiers (hot/warm/cold), partitioning/sharding, retention policies, versioning mechanisms.
• Access: Methods (APIs/direct queries), role-based access control, masking/anonymization, materialized/precomputed views.
• Governance & Privacy: Handling of sensitive/PII data, consent tracking, lineage documentation, regulatory compliance.

4.3. Integration Architecture

• External APIs/SDKs: Third-party services used, scopes, auth methods, SLAs/rate limits.
• Internal Services: Service boundaries, communication patterns (sync/async), contracts.
• Data Exchange: Formats (JSON/CSV/XML/binary), protocols (HTTP/WebSocket/MQTT, etc.).
• Integration Constraints: Dependencies, failure modes, backoff/retry policies, versioning.

4.4. Scalability & Reliability

• Scaling Strategy: Horizontal/vertical scaling, autoscaling triggers, capacity planning.
• Resilience Patterns: Load balancing, timeouts, retries, circuit breakers, bulkheads.
• High Availability: Redundancy, multi-AZ/region strategy, maintenance windows.
• Disaster Recovery: Backups, restore procedures, RTO/RPO targets, drills.

✨ 5. UX / UI

5.1. Product Philosophy

Foundational values and vision guiding the product experience (e.g., simplicity, clarity, secure by default).

5.2. UX Principles & Accessibility

Core heuristics applied, allowed/forbidden interaction patterns, accessibility targets and constraints.

5.3. Visual Design & Representation

Links to design artifacts (Figma, Sketch, Whimsical), key screens and states, responsive/adaptive considerations.

5.4. User Journey & Navigation

High-level user journey overview, main touchpoints, navigation structure, information architecture, and potential friction points.

5.5. Onboarding, Feedback & Localization

Approach for onboarding new users, guidance and support channels, feedback mechanisms, supported languages, and cultural/regional adaptations.

💼 6. Business & Go-to-Market

6.1. Revenue Model

SaaS / license / usage-based / marketplace; billing unit, cost structure, key margins.

6.2. Pricing & Packaging

Tiers, limits, value differentiation, trial/refund policy, promotional strategies.

6.3. Target Segments

Detailed primary and secondary target groups; eligibility criteria; early adopter profiles.

6.4. Go-to-Market Strategy

Planned actions for launch and growth:

• Marketing actions (content, community, partnerships, events, influencers)
• Distribution channels (website, app stores, integrations, resellers, public API)
• Initial messaging & positioning tests

6.5. Early-Stage Priorities

Key experiments or campaigns to validate market fit and business viability.

🧠 7. Resources

7.1. Competitors

List of direct and indirect competitors relevant to the product, with optional brief notes on each (e.g., focus, key feature, pricing).

7.2. Inspirations

Products/visual/functionality references + what’s inspiring.

7.3. Glossary (optional)

Product-specific terms, abbreviations, shared definitions.