home / skills / yellinzero / aico / aico-pm-prd-writing
This skill creates comprehensive PRDs detailing goals, scope, user stories, and success criteria to guide product development.
npx playbooks add skill yellinzero/aico --skill aico-pm-prd-writingReview the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.
---
name: aico-pm-prd-writing
description: |
Create comprehensive Product Requirements Documents (PRD) that define what to build and why, focusing on goals, scope, user stories, and success criteria without implementation details.
Use this skill when:
- User asks to "write a PRD", "create PRD", "write requirements document"
- User mentions "requirements document", "product requirements", "product spec"
- Running /pm.plan command to create version planning document
- Starting a new product, major feature, or initiative that needs formal requirements
- Need to document goals, scope, user stories, functional requirements, and success criteria
Output: ALWAYS write PRD files to docs/reference/pm/versions/{version-name}.md
---
# PRD Writing
## Language Configuration
Before generating any content, check `aico.json` in project root for `language` field to determine the output language. If not set, default to English.
## Process
1. **Gather context**: Check `docs/reference/pm/` for existing product context
2. **Define problem & solution**: Start with clear problem statement and high-level solution
3. **Set boundaries**: Clearly separate Goals from Non-Goals
4. **Document requirements**: List functional requirements (FR-XXX format)
5. **Define success**: Set measurable success criteria
6. **Track unknowns**: Document open questions for later clarification
7. **Save PRD**: ALWAYS write to `docs/reference/pm/versions/{version-name}.md`
## PRD Template
```markdown
# [Feature Name] PRD
> Project: [project-name]
> Created: YYYY-MM-DD
> Last Updated: YYYY-MM-DD
## 1. Overview
- Problem statement
- Proposed solution (high-level)
- Success metrics
## 2. Background
- Current state
- User pain points
- Market context (if relevant)
## 3. Goals & Non-Goals
### Goals
- What this feature WILL accomplish
### Non-Goals
- What this feature will NOT address
## 4. User Stories
[Link to or embed user stories]
## 5. Functional Requirements
- FR-001: [Requirement description]
- FR-002: [Requirement description]
## 6. User Experience
- Key user flows
- Interaction patterns
- Edge cases
## 7. Success Criteria
- Measurable outcomes
- Acceptance criteria
## 8. Open Questions
- Unresolved decisions
- Items needing clarification
```
## Key Rules
- ALWAYS focus on WHAT to build, NOT HOW to implement
- MUST include quantifiable success metrics
- ALWAYS explicitly state what's out of scope in Non-Goals
- MUST save output to `docs/reference/pm/versions/` directory
## Common Mistakes
- ❌ Include implementation details → ✅ Focus on WHAT, not HOW
- ❌ Vague success metrics → ✅ Quantifiable outcomes
- ❌ Missing non-goals → ✅ Explicitly state what's out of scope
---
## Iron Law
**NO PRD WITHOUT VALIDATED REQUIREMENTS**
This rule is non-negotiable. Before writing PRD:
1. User pain points must be documented
2. Success metrics must be defined
3. Scope must be explicitly approved by user
### Rationalization Defense
| Excuse | Reality |
| ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| "Requirements are clear enough" | Implicit requirements cause scope creep |
| "We can refine the PRD later" | Late changes cost 10x more to implement |
| "User will accept anything" | Users always have hidden expectations |
| "It's just a small feature" | Small features grow into big problems |
This skill creates comprehensive Product Requirements Documents (PRDs) that define what to build and why, focusing on goals, scope, user stories, and measurable success criteria. It enforces validated requirements and saves the final PRD to the repo path docs/reference/pm/versions/{version-name}.md.
The skill inspects existing product context in docs/reference/pm/, checks project language settings from aico.json, and guides the author through a checklist: problem, high-level solution, goals, non-goals, user stories, functional requirements (FR-XXX), success criteria, and open questions. It produces a markdown PRD using the prescribed template and writes the file to docs/reference/pm/versions/{version-name}.md.
Where is the PRD saved?
The generated PRD is always written to docs/reference/pm/versions/{version-name}.md in markdown format.
Will the PRD include implementation details?
No. The PRD is explicit about WHAT to build and why; implementation details are intentionally excluded.