Most product managers don’t set out to write bad requirements.
They’re under pressure to deliver. They’re surrounded by requests.
And they’re juggling context, roadmaps, and Jira tickets—just trying to keep up.
So what happens?
We write what’s easy. What’s fast. What’s expected.
And that’s usually… not enough.
At Productside, we’ve worked with thousands of PMs across industries—and one theme keeps showing up:
When product teams don’t take the time for writing effective product requirements, everything downstream suffers.
In this post, we’re sharing highlights from our recent webinar with Tom Evans and Rina Alexin, where we dug into why requirements go wrong—and how to make them better.
The Real Role of Requirements
Let’s start here: a requirement isn’t just a ticket or a doc.
It’s a shared understanding.
As Jeff Patton puts it:
“Requirements aren’t just about the specs but they’re about creating a shared understanding with other stakeholders in the organization and especially those who are going to be working with you to build the product…”
So when PMs rush through requirements (or skip critical thinking about who it’s for and why it matters) what we’re really skipping is alignment.
The result?
- Missed outcomes
- Endless rework
- Frustrated stakeholders
- Wasted investment
Why Bad Requirements Happen (and How to Prevent Them)
Most bad requirements boil down to 3 things:
-
Missing context
-
A rush to solutions
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Focusing on output over outcome
We’ve seen it too often: a senior leader demands a feature because “our competitor has it.” So the team builds it without questioning whether it fits the strategy or delivers value to the customer.
Tom’s advice? Don’t challenge—clarify.
Ask questions like:
- Who is this for?
- What problem are we solving?
- What outcome are we trying to create?
Your job is to get past the feature request and uncover the underlying goal. That’s what turns a request into a real requirement—and that’s the foundation of writing effective product requirements.
3 Core Principles for Writing Effective Product Requirements
If you only walk away with one thing, let it be this:
Good requirements start long before you write anything down.
Here are the three principles we emphasized during the webinar:
1. Start with the Who and the Why
Before jumping to what the team should build, clarify:
- Who has the problem? (Use personas)
- What job are they trying to get done?
- What does success look like for them?
This shifts the conversation from features to needs and leads to better solutions.
2. Focus on Outcomes (not just Outputs)
It’s easy to ship features. It’s harder to deliver impact.
Only about 20% of product output actually leads to meaningful outcomes. The rest? Neutral at best. Harmful at worst.
That’s why we recommend working backwards from your desired customer outcomes and mapping those to business goals. Then (and only then) should you define what output (feature, capability, improvement) will drive that change.
Need help visualizing it?
Check out our free Outcome Tree and Outcome-Based Roadmap templates in the Product Leader Pack.
3. Write Requirements as a Conversation, Not a Checklist
The best requirements aren’t bulletproof specs. They’re the starting point for collaboration.
One way to drive this? Story mapping.
Start with a high-level user flow for a single persona, then break it into steps and actions. This helps your engineers, designers, and stakeholders see how everything fits together—and it surfaces edge cases, assumptions, and gaps early.
Story maps help your team build shared understanding before the first line of code is written. And that’s the point.
You Can’t Write Great Requirements Without Great Discovery
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
If you’re not doing discovery, you’re not writing real requirements.
Talking to customers. Running empathy interviews. Observing user behavior.
These aren’t “nice-to-haves”—they’re how you generate the context that makes your requirements valuable.
Don’t assume your stakeholders have that context.
Don’t even assume you do.
Go get it.
(Need help? Download our Voice of the Customer workbook—free and field-tested.)
TL;DR: How to Write Requirements That Actually Drive Outcomes
✅ Start with the problem—not the feature
✅ Define the persona, job to be done, and desired outcome
✅ Map output to customer outcomes to business goals
✅ Use story mapping and discovery to create shared understanding
✅ Write less. Align more. Deliver better.
Write Less. Align More. Deliver Better.
Want to put these ideas into practice?
Watch the full webinar on demand to hear the real stories and tools behind outcome-driven requirements.
Download the Voice of the Customer Workbook to improve discovery and gather the context your requirements are missing.
Explore the Optimal Product Management course if you’re ready to master outcomes, story mapping, and strategic alignment—live, hands-on, and in person.
Are your requirements driving clarity—or just keeping the wheels turning?
We’d love to hear your take. Join the conversation on LinkedIn.
If you want to get better at this, join us in person.
Our Optimal Product Management course walks through all of these practices—live, hands-on, and coached by senior PMs like Tom.
📍 June 17–19 | Austin, TX
🎓 Includes AIPMM Certified Product Manager™ exam
🔗 Save your seat