Product Design Doc Template
You may have arrived to this document from an article about documenting the design process written by Ismael González and published in Smashing Magazine. Read the article to get the full picture.
Status: [✏️ Draft / 🔴 S30 / 🟡 S60 / 🟢 S90 / Complete]
[Use the status to clearly indicate the progress of the document]

Abstract

[Description of the problem you need to design for, commonly linking to other helpful related readings you might have.]

Goals

[Key objectives your solution needs to focus on, this is a checklist that you will be constantly reviewing to be sure you are on the right track. Commonly stated as bullet points]
  • Goal 1
  • Goal 2
  • Goal 3
  • Goal 4

Solution

[Final solution with all the feedback applied, empty until you finish iterating on all the stages.]

S30

[First proposal you make based on the abstract and the goals, focusing on the broader solution instead of the details, maybe by providing a low fidelity wireframe or similar technique. This is the stage where the solution proposed could take a totally different approach and major feedback is expected to happen. ]

Proposal
[Add here your design and reasoning. This may take the form of detailed outline, a rough sketch, or a spec.]

Feedback
[Add here summarized feedback collected through comments on the document or meetings]

Expected Feedback
  • Use document comments for feedback
  • Impressions of the higher-level concept.
  • Suggestions for scope and ways to expand.
  • “Go” or “no go” decisions on feature elements.
  • Avoid nit-picks on grammar and copy.

S60

[Your solution at 60% of completeness and applies the feedback from S30. It has fewer details than S90, but clearly indicates the intention of your solution. You provide a high fidelity wireframe with more cases involved and some flow definitions. You might receive some sort of feedback mostly focusing on missed cases and small unexpected scenarios.]

Proposals
[Add here your design and reasoning. At this stage is expected some form of visual design.]

Feedback
[Add here summarized feedback collected through comments on the document or meetings]

Expected Feedback
  • Use document comments for feedback
  • Nit-picks on grammar and copy
  • Suggestions of different ways to expand
  • Was the feedback from S30 addressed correctly?
  • Visual design feedback
  • Avoid “Go” or “no go” decisions about key project elements
  • Avoid impressions of the higher-level concept

S90

[The stage that has the solution at the 90% of completeness and applies the feedback from S60. This stage is focused on the very finest details of your design, including all different scenarios, corner cases, visual design and even prototypes. It's expected to have some kind of minor feedback.]

Proposal