📝 Templates
Copy the template for the document type you're writing. Fill in every field — don't leave placeholders.
| Template | Use for |
|---|---|
| PRD | Product Requirements Document — the WHAT and WHY of a feature (Product-owned) |
| Design Doc | Engineering design — the HOW of a feature (R&D-owned, paired with a PRD) |
| RFC | Significant change proposals (multi-team, week+) |
| Proposal | Lightweight ideas — side-project sized, single-engineer scope |
| ADR | Architecture / technical decisions |
| Decision | Product or business decisions |
| Runbook | Operational playbooks |
See Product ↔ R&D Handoff for how PRD → Design Doc → Tasks pipeline works.
Golden rules
- Every doc has an owner. No owner = no one updates it.
- Status is mandatory. Lifecycle:
draft → ready-for-rd → in-progress → shipped → deprecated(PRDs) ordraft → in-review → approved → in-progress → shipped → deprecated(Design Docs). - Short > long. A 1-page doc that's read beats a 10-page doc that isn't.
- Link, don't duplicate. Link to the ADR instead of re-explaining the decision.
- AI-assisted docs must include
ai_assisted: trueand be reviewed before reachingready-for-rd/approved.