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Product Design Criteria Template for Product Managers
A structured template for defining product design criteria that align your team on must-haves, constraints, and quality bars before design and...
Updated 2026-03-05
Product Design Criteria
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Frequently Asked Questions
How are design criteria different from a PRD?+
A PRD describes what to build and why. Design criteria describe the standards the design must meet. The PRD might say "add a dashboard." The design criteria say "the dashboard must load in under 2 seconds, achieve 90%+ task success rate in usability testing, and comply with WCAG 2.1 AA." They are complementary documents.
Who owns the design criteria?+
The product manager typically owns the functional criteria and constraints. The design lead owns the quality criteria and evaluation rubric. Engineering contributes technical constraints. All three roles should sign off on the final document.
What if a design meets all criteria but still feels wrong?+
That usually means your criteria are incomplete. Add the missing dimension (it might be emotional, like "the experience should feel fast and confident" or strategic, like "the design should reinforce our premium positioning"). Vague discomfort is a signal to make criteria more explicit, not to override them with gut feel.
How many criteria should I define?+
5-8 functional criteria and 3-5 quality criteria per category is typical. More than 20 total criteria becomes unmanageable in a design review. If you need more, the scope of your initiative is probably too broad. ---
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