Case Study · Product Documentation

Pawly MVP Product Requirements Document

Turning an early-stage pet social concept into an activity-first MVP product system.

MVP Strategy
Product Documentation
User Flows
Edge Cases
UI/UX Requirements

Authorship

Sole author of the Pawly MVP PRD, including product model, feature specs, user flows, business rules, edge cases, UI/UX requirements, and acceptance criteria.

Responsible Sharing

Selected non-confidential excerpts are shown to demonstrate product reasoning, documentation structure, and decision logic. Full internal documentation is not publicly shared.

00 Document

Pawly MVP PRD cover page and table of contents — Pawly MVP PRD — Version 0.1 / Internal Draft

A working PRD, not a deliverable.

The Pawly MVP PRD scoped product overview, feature specifications, user flows, business rules, edge cases, analytics events, and acceptance criteria. The excerpts below are selected to show product reasoning — not to reproduce the full document.

01 MVP Model

An Activity-First MVP Model

Pawly's MVP was centered on successful local event participation, not passive profile browsing. I framed the product around a clear behavioral path: onboarding, profile setup, map discovery, event participation, group coordination, offline meeting, and repeat behavior.

1.2 MVP Product Model — activity-first local social model

02 PRD Structure

A Repeatable PRD Structure

I used a repeatable feature specification structure to align product, design, engineering, and GTM. Each feature was documented through product purpose, user flow, business rules, UI/UX requirements, data needs, edge cases, analytics, acceptance criteria, and open questions.

2.0.1 Feature Specification Template table

03 Onboarding

Reducing First-Use Friction

For onboarding, I separated what Pawly needed immediately from what could be deferred. The goal was not to collect a complete profile upfront, but to get users into the map and event experience with minimal friction.

2.1.2 Product Purpose — onboarding scope and friction reduction — Product purpose: get users into map/event experience with minimal friction.

2.1.4 Business Rules — onboarding rules and optionality — Supporting business rules: skippable fields, optional assessment, deferred dating signals.

04 Product Tone

Writing Product Tone Into Requirements

Because Pawly is a relationship-oriented pet social product, onboarding needed to feel light, warm, and low-pressure. I translated that emotional intent into concrete UI requirements: card-based progression, visible skip actions, playful optional assessment entry, and warm visual direction.

2.1.5 UI / UX Requirements — tone, cards, skip actions, warm visual direction

05 Edge Cases

Designing Beyond the Happy Path

I documented edge cases that could easily become user-facing friction: incomplete onboarding recovery, duplicate account handling, and location permission denial. These cases turn abstract product intent into resilient system behavior.

Edge case — Location permission denied — Edge case 01 · Location permission denied — manual fallback, pre-prompt, and helper copy.

Edge case — User exits before completing onboarding — Edge case 02 · Exit before completion — resume from last step.

Edge case — Duplicate account — Edge case 03 · Duplicate account — route to login, avoid duplicate records.

06 Acceptance

Defining MVP Readiness

I defined acceptance criteria to make MVP readiness testable rather than subjective, covering account creation, returning user login, profile setup, intent selection, skip behavior, and optional assessment entry.

2.1.8 Acceptance Criteria — onboarding MVP-readiness checklist — 2.1.8 Acceptance Criteria — account creation and basic profile readiness.

Initial intent selection and Pet Personality Assessment entry criteria — Acceptance — intent selection behavior and optional assessment entry.

07 Identity Layer

Pet Personality Assessment as an Identity Layer

The Pet Personality Assessment was designed as a lightweight identity layer, not a required diagnostic test. It supports profile completion, emotional attachment, shareable identity, community tone, and future extensions such as visual assets, Discord roles, stickers, and event context.

2.3 Pet MBTI — feature summary and product purpose.

2.3.3 User Flow — Assessment Entry copy and UI/UX note — 2.3.3 User Flow — optional assessment entry and tone.

Entry, Question, Completion, and Result screens for Pet MBTI — Screen-level requirements — entry, question, completion, result.

08 Takeaway

What This Demonstrates

This PRD demonstrates my ability to:

—Define an MVP around behavior, not feature volume.
—Reduce user friction through product sequencing.
—Translate emotional product intent into buildable requirements.
—Write documentation that product, design, engineering, and QA can act on.

All excerpts are intentionally limited to non-confidential material and preserve the original product reasoning, documentation structure, and decision logic.