The value of document in product design

A lot of people will ask: "Say two words on it, why do you still need to write documents so troublesome?" "When all of us are working in the same office, it's OK to shout a few words, why do we have to write down everything in the document so troublesome?"

However, the value of the product documentation is. It gives the entire team a reference point for the work that needs to be done in this project. The product documentation provides a good basis for defining your product documentation to ensure that there is no such situation in the development process. When a product manager sees a new article or a new idea, it will consider adding a new feature. If a project has no fixed goals, no schedule, no predetermined milestones, there will be no end to the project. So no one will know what the project will get and when the project will end.

Although it is a hassle to document the requirements of a project, the main reasons are:

1, with the document you know what the goal is?
The goal of a product is not only your idea of a person, the implementation of the product must be completed through the full cooperation of the entire team. Without a documented record, your product and your project will become a "legend" through word of mouth, which is frightening to everyone's understanding, and each person's verbal description is different, so that no one in the end knows what the real goal of the product is. As long as the document records the objectives of the project in detail and records the process arrangement of the project in detail, the product will not stay in the image of the product manager's mind, and it becomes something that everyone in the product team can reach. This project can only be handled perfectly when the idea of a person becomes the whole team.

2. With the document, you know what is being built?
Product projects in the early brainstorming discussions will have a lot of ideas, a lot of ideas, if not documented in the development of the implementation will be confused, do not know what to do now? As long as there is documentation support, the purpose of the product and the specification of the product are recorded in detail, it may look like a stand-alone function module; only when the requirements have been identified, can the matter be more clearly refined. A product in the development of a series of clear requirements, in order to let you assign the responsibility of clearer, with a clear division of labor, in order to provide the work of collaborative efficiency.

3, with the document you know what is not to do?
Product projects in full swing, there are many functional ideas that sound very appealing, and each thought function does not seem to have much work to do, but when a lot of ideas come together, the whole project loses control and, like a snowball, it rolls up and the project expands endlessly. The timing of the project will be in the future. With the document you know what is being built? What does not need to be done at this stage? Having ideas is good, but having ideas doesn't mean doing it right away. You can document these outstanding ideas and then analyze them to make them your long-term plan, which is the real value of the idea. Bring together all the new ideas and make a reserve for upgrades and updates.

The document not only provides a good reference point for the prophase and development period of the project, but also records the version history of the product and provides a good control material for each revision upgrade. While writing and updating documents is a hassle, this is an essential part of the product development process.

Attached：

10 types of documents used in Internet product development

Ten steps to the product requirements document