What is the difference between MRD and PRD?

When working with products, product managers often have to create BRD, MRD, and PRD documents, but many friends who have just entered the industry or have no experience in the field are likely to be confused by these three when they come into contact. As for MRD and PRD, there are some specific features of these formats. They are widely used and must be carried out by professionals, who know for sure all the peculiarities of the process. As for the question,how to write a prd, it can be easily carried out in case if to ask for help from professionals, who work in this sphere.

Contents

MRD

MRD describes a product under development or a new version of a product from the customer’s point of view. The customer is the future consumer of the product and it can be either the person who buys the box with the program in the store, or another department of the same company. MRD is needed so that developers get an idea of the product, the necessary functionality and can start development (here, development means the whole range of work – design, architecture, coding, testing and everything else that the developers consider necessary to include there).

Well, that is, MRD is a document with the help of which the Product Manager (a person who represents the customer and, in theory, who knows what he needs) tries to convey the needs of the customer to the developers.

Now let’s try to describe which sections the MRD should include. For convenience, should be given a try to give an example right after the description of the corresponding section.

MRD is a generally free format document. The main audience of MRD is:

Developers

MRD developers need to understand what exactly needs to be written.

Top management

Well, firstly, the bosses, of course, should be aware of what is actually being done 😉 Secondly, MRD is a document that is a rationale for obtaining resources (material and human) if they are not enough.

Customer

The MRD is provided to the customer as part of a broader set of documents for approval. In case of disputes about the presence or absence of a particular functionality, the MRD is a document that helps to resolve them.

Drawing up an MRD requires quite a lot of work from the Product Manager, analyzing competitors and the market situation, as well as, sometimes, understanding the technical side of the issue.

But, with a well-designed MRD, the interaction between customers and developers is greatly improved and possible problems are removed.

PRD

The emphasis is a key description of the main functions, and the supporting description should be as simple as possible. In fact, writing PRDs is like writing articles when we were young: it has titles, content, analysis, summaries, and key parts. Naturally, this requires more pen and ink. Many product managers often strive for completeness, and they fear omission. Every detail must be considered. In fact, it is not necessary at all. A PRD is not a document and does not need to be demonstrated over and over again. It is enough to explain this issue clearly.

The PRD test is actually the overarching quality of the product manager. To write a good PRD, in addition to improving the professionalism of product managers, it is necessary to maintain product sensitivity. PRD is not a one-time task. Product managers should always be prepared.