What This Template Is For
Real-time collaboration is one of the hardest features to specify well. The user-facing behavior looks simple (two people editing the same thing at once), but the underlying requirements span presence systems, conflict resolution, permission boundaries, and network resilience. Most teams underspecify collaboration features and end up with data loss bugs, inconsistent states, or UX that feels laggy and unreliable.
This template walks you through every decision point for a multiplayer feature: what users see, how conflicts resolve, what happens when someone goes offline, and how the system scales. Whether you are adding live cursors to a document editor, collaborative boards, or shared dashboards, these sections cover the ground you need. For background on how to structure this work within a broader initiative, see the PRD Template.
How to Use This Template
- Start with the Collaboration Scope section. Define exactly which objects are collaborative and which remain single-player. Trying to make everything multiplayer at once is a common mistake.
- Work through Presence and Awareness before conflict resolution. Users need to see who else is active before they encounter merge conflicts.
- Involve your engineering lead early. The conflict resolution strategy (OT, CRDT, or last-write-wins) shapes every technical decision downstream.
- Use the RICE Calculator to score collaboration against other priorities. Multiplayer features are expensive to build, so make sure the impact justifies the effort.
- Review the filled example, then adapt the depth to your product's needs.
The Template
Collaboration Overview
- ☐ Feature name and one-line summary
- ☐ Which product surfaces support real-time collaboration (documents, boards, dashboards, forms)
- ☐ Maximum concurrent editors per object (e.g., 25 per document)
- ☐ Target latency for edit propagation (e.g., < 500ms P95)
- ☐ Supported platforms (web, desktop, mobile, API)
Presence and Awareness
- ☐ Presence indicators: where do user avatars/cursors appear?
- ☐ Join/leave notifications: banner, toast, or silent?
- ☐ Cursor sharing: live cursors, selection highlights, or both?
- ☐ Idle detection: how long before a user is marked "away"?
- ☐ Viewport awareness: can users see what section others are viewing?
Conflict Resolution
- ☐ Resolution strategy: operational transform (OT), CRDT, or last-write-wins
- ☐ Merge behavior for simultaneous edits to the same field
- ☐ Undo/redo behavior in a multiplayer context
- ☐ Conflict notification UX: silent merge vs. user prompt
- ☐ Edge case: what happens when two users delete the same object?
Permissions in Collaboration
- ☐ Who can join a collaborative session? (link-based, invite-only, workspace members)
- ☐ Role-based editing rights: can Viewers see cursors? Can Commenters edit?
- ☐ Mid-session permission changes: what happens if access is revoked while editing?
- ☐ Guest access for external collaborators (if applicable)
For a full permissions system design, use the Permissions System Template.
Offline and Reconnection
- ☐ Offline editing: supported, queued, or blocked?
- ☐ Reconnection flow: how does the client sync after a disconnect?
- ☐ Stale session handling: what if a user reconnects after 24 hours?
- ☐ Data integrity guarantee: can edits be lost during reconnection?
Performance and Scalability
- ☐ Maximum document size for collaborative editing
- ☐ Connection protocol: WebSockets, SSE, or polling fallback
- ☐ Server architecture: dedicated collaboration service or integrated
- ☐ Load testing plan: target concurrent users per session and per instance
Analytics and Success Metrics
- ☐ How do you measure adoption of collaboration features?
- ☐ Key metrics: concurrent sessions, edits per session, collaboration frequency
- ☐ Guardrail metrics: data loss incidents, sync errors, latency P99
Filled Example: Collaborative Whiteboard
Collaboration Overview
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Feature | Real-Time Collaborative Whiteboard |
| Surfaces | Whiteboard canvas (web and iPad) |
| Max concurrent editors | 15 per board |
| Target latency | < 300ms for shape moves, < 500ms for text edits |
Presence and Awareness
Users see avatar circles in the top-right corner showing who is on the board. Each active user gets a colored cursor with their name label. Cursors disappear after 5 minutes of inactivity. When a user selects a shape, other users see a colored selection border around that shape.
Conflict Resolution
The whiteboard uses CRDT (specifically Yjs) for shape position, size, and text content. Simultaneous moves of the same shape resolve by timestamp (last move wins with < 100ms tolerance). Undo is local-only: each user's undo stack only reverses their own actions. If two users delete the same shape within 2 seconds, both see the deletion without a conflict prompt.
Permissions
Board access follows workspace roles: Admins and Editors can draw and move shapes. Viewers see live cursors and updates but cannot edit. The commenting system allows Viewers to leave sticky-note comments on the board. Guest access requires a share link with an expiration (7 days default).
Offline and Reconnection
Offline editing is not supported in V1. If a user loses connection, edits are queued locally for up to 60 seconds. On reconnection, queued operations merge via CRDT. If disconnected longer than 60 seconds, the user sees a "Reconnecting..." banner and the canvas becomes read-only until sync completes.
Success Metrics
| Metric | Baseline | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Boards with 2+ editors/week | 12% | 35% |
| Average concurrent editors | 1.1 | 2.4 |
| "Lost edits" support tickets/month | 85 | < 10 |
Tips for Specifying Collaboration Features
- Start narrow. Make one surface collaborative before expanding. Trying to add multiplayer to your entire product at once leads to inconsistent UX and compounding edge cases.
- Define the conflict resolution strategy before writing user stories. OT, CRDT, and last-write-wins each create different UX constraints. The choice affects everything from undo behavior to offline support.
- Test with real latency. Collaboration that works on localhost often breaks on a 200ms connection. Test with network throttling from day one.
- Plan for the "ghost cursor" problem. Users who leave a tab open without closing it create stale presence indicators. Implement idle detection and session timeouts.
- Measure collaboration, not just usage. Track how many sessions involve 2+ active editors, not just how many users open the document. Solo users in a "collaborative" feature is a signal that the UX is not encouraging teamwork. Use the analytics guide for measurement frameworks.
Key Takeaways
- Define exactly which surfaces support collaboration before designing the system
- Choose your conflict resolution strategy (OT vs. CRDT vs. last-write-wins) early because it constrains every technical decision
- Implement presence and awareness before conflict resolution to give users visibility
- Start with a conservative concurrent-editor limit and increase it based on real demand
- Measure collaboration adoption (2+ active editors) rather than raw feature usage
About This Template
Created by: Tim Adair
Last Updated: 3/4/2026
Version: 1.0.0
License: Free for personal and commercial use