Product Brief¶
This is a template. Replace every bracketed placeholder with real, reviewed content before this document is used to guide work. This file itself establishes no policy and describes no approved product until every placeholder is filled in and the document has been reviewed by a human owner.
Product Identity¶
- Working name: [Product Display Name]
- Slug: [product-slug]
- Family: [personal-finance | home-lifestyle | small-business | marketing-operations]
- Format: [Excel workbook | other]
- One-line description: [What the product is, in one sentence, written for an internal audience, not marketing copy.]
Target Customer¶
- Who: [Describe the specific customer segment. Avoid vague descriptions like "everyone who wants to budget" — be specific about role, life stage, or business context.]
- Where they currently solve this problem: [status quo tools/behaviors — spreadsheets they built themselves, competitor products, pen and paper, nothing at all]
- How they would find this product: [marketplace, channel — hypothesis only]
Customer Problem¶
- Problem statement: [The specific, defined problem this product solves. Must be concrete enough to be falsifiable — "people want to manage money better" is not acceptable.]
- Evidence this problem exists: [Cite specific sources with dates in market-research.md — do not restate unsourced claims here. If no evidence yet exists, say so explicitly: "No evidence gathered yet — problem statement is a hypothesis."]
- Consequence of the problem going unsolved: [What happens to the customer if they don't solve this]
Product Promise¶
- What this product commits to delivering: [Specific, testable promise]
- What "success" looks like for the customer: [Observable outcome]
Non-Goals¶
- [Explicitly state what this product does NOT attempt to do. Non-goals prevent scope creep and must be revisited, not silently abandoned.]
- [Second non-goal]
- [Third non-goal]
Differentiation Hypothesis¶
- Why would a customer choose this over the status quo or a competitor? [State this as a hypothesis, not a proven claim. Must be testable.]
- What would prove this hypothesis wrong? [Falsification condition]
Assumptions¶
- [Assumption 1 — mark as validated/unvalidated]
- [Assumption 2 — mark as validated/unvalidated]
- [Assumption 3 — mark as validated/unvalidated]
Risks¶
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation / Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Risk description] | [Low/Med/High] | [Low/Med/High] | [Mitigation, owner] |
| [Risk description] | [Low/Med/High] | [Low/Med/High] | [Mitigation, owner] |
This is a template. Replace bracketed placeholders. This file itself establishes no policy.