Examples of Process Improvement

To avoid confusion from stories arriving without background, always include context: what pain points this feature addresses, what the goal is, and any relevant background. Optionally, include a story-style statement such as:

• As a [persona], I want [feature], so that [goal]

• Given [conditions], when [trigger], then [outcome]

A high-level user flow helps PMs, designers, and QA testers understand how users move through the feature. Outline each major step or screen interaction.

Include only the prerequisites needed for your audience—skip obvious steps, but ensure someone could reasonably follow along from the starting point you're describing.

For each screen, describe the expected UI and behaviors. If your feature involves different user types (e.g., Buyer, Seller, Admin), be clear about which persona is performing each action.

Even if dependencies are linked in Jira or your ticketing system, briefly note key ones in writing. This section serves as a reminder to discuss timing and relationships between tickets during review—even if you don’t revisit it later.

This is the core of the requirements. Break it down in a way that matches the UI—commonly by page, then by section. If the UI changes by user role or state, describe each version.

Link to the Figma or prototype’s table of contents at the top of this section for easy reference.

Even if you’ve included a prototype link, also embed screenshots and write out key details—this avoids confusion from flipping between tools.

In the written portion, describe (a) content, (b) styling, and (c) behavior, adjusting the level of detail as necessary.

If you’re using established components, skip basic specs like padding or colors. But if modifying something, document the changes clearly—even duplicating styling from Figma when necessary depending on your layer structure and the engineer you're working with.

Use bold text to flag what’s new vs. updated.

Use an ℹ️ icon before background info to help engineers and testers skip non-essential details while preserving context for PMs and designers.

Before release, clear out inline open issues for clarity. Still, it’s helpful to collect unresolved questions or historical context at the end of the document—especially decisions that were made or issues that don’t tie to a specific screen.

Reiterate, at a high level, what must be complete for the feature to be considered done—focused on content and behavior, not styling.

This section is typically owned by engineering leads. While not always relevant to others, it can be useful for future devs debugging or iterating on the feature.