The 1-Page PRD: Why Less is More

The problem with traditional PRDs

You’ve seen them. The 20-page Product Requirements Documents that took weeks to write and minutes to become outdated. The ones that sit in a folder, unread, while the actual product diverges from what was “specified.”

Traditional PRDs fail for three reasons:

1. They’re too long to read. If it takes 30 minutes to read, no one will read it.
2. They’re too slow to write. By the time you finish, requirements have changed.
3. They create false certainty. All that detail implies we know more than we do.

The 1-Page PRD

A 1-Page PRD forces clarity. When you only have one page, every word must earn its place.

Here’s the structure:

Problem (2-3 sentences)

What problem are we solving? Why does it matter? For whom?

Solution (2-3 sentences)

What are we building? At the highest level, what does it do?

Success metrics (3-5 bullets)

How will we know this worked? Be specific and measurable.

Scope (In/Out)

Two columns: what’s included, what’s explicitly not included. The “out” column is more important.

Open questions

What don’t we know yet? What needs to be figured out during development?

Why this works

The 1-Page PRD works because it matches how decisions actually get made.

Before kickoff: Leadership needs to understand what we’re building and why. One page is enough.

During development: Engineers need to know the goal, not every edge case. Edge cases get decided in conversations.

After launch: We need to remember what we were trying to achieve. Success metrics keep us honest.

The Monday Morning Test

Here’s the test: Can a new engineer joining the project understand what we’re building and why in under 5 minutes?

If the answer is no, your PRD is failing — regardless of how long or detailed it is.

Get started

The 1-Page PRD template is available for free. It includes the structure above, guided prompts for each section, and a real example to reference.

Stop writing documents no one reads. Start shipping with clarity.