NEW COURSE

Introducing Design, the product manager’s guide to leveraging design! Learn more.

Why Pragmatic?
About Us

The Pragmatic Difference

The Pragmatic Story

Certifications

FAQ

Careers

Contact Us

News

Product Marketing & Management

The Pragmatic Framework

Build Your Product Career

Build Your Product Team

Alumni Advantages

Data Science

Build Your Data Career

Build Your Data Team
Courses
Product

Foundations

Focus

Design

Build

Market

Launch

Price

The Business of Data Science

Pragmatic Labs

Data Science

Intro To Python

Essential Data Tools

Practical Machine Learning

Advanced Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence w/ Tensor Flow

The Business of Data Science

Partner Learning Network

If you’re looking for expert-led, battle-tested training that goes beyond the Pragmatic Framework, then you need the Partner Learning Network.
We’re searching the world for the best minds in product and business to curate our network of partner courses, all designed to help you expand your skills to take on the future of business.

Level-Up Power Skills

Accelerate Your Subscription Business

Demystifying Finance for Product Teams
Resources
RESOURCES

Product

Articles

Magazines

Webinars

Podcasts

Infographics

Downloads

Data Science

Infographics

Box Of The Month

January - User Personas

User Personas: Define the archetypical users of your products or services.

FEATURED POST

Survive or Thrive: The Role of Product Flexibility and Adaptability in the Face of a Crisis

Webinar

How I Build This: A Strong Relationship between Product and Community

Podcasts

PragmaticLive

How to Make Decisions Like Google

The Importance of Design for Product Managers

Conquering Market Monsters and Complex Products

DS:30

How to Make Decisions Like Google

The Importance of Design for Product Managers

Conquering Market Monsters and Complex Products
Events

Upcoming Event

Webinars

Agile Product Management

Understanding the tension and opportunity

ScHEDULED EVENTS

EVENT CALENDAR

EVENT CALENDAR

OFFICE HOURS: Join us every Friday @ 1:30 PM ET for Office Hours: AMA. Each week, one of our instructors will be live online to answer your questions and provide the guidance you need on everything product. Join Us.
Alumni
ToolS & resource Center

Looking for the Alumni Resource Center? It’s that nifty resource repository that has all the course materials, tools and templates you know and love.

Register

Access Tools & Resources

Pragmatic Alumni Commmunity

The PAC is a new online collaboration space for product professionals to work together to exchange the tools, examples and tactics that move the needle.

About the PAC

Login

Sign Up

Online & Public Training

We offer online and in-person training events all around the world with great opportunities to network with your peers.

Private Training

Prefer a private training, tailored for and delivered specifically to your company, in-person or online?

Contact our account team for pricing and availability.

Contact Sales

Get Started

On Reqs and Specs: The Roles and Behaviors for Effective Product Definition

Pragmatic Institute, John Milburn

Mar 3 - '12

Product managers write terrible requirements, littered with buzz words, ambivalent language, and non-specific performance parameters. They read like somewhat-technical marketing hype. And developers have to make sense of the requirements. They complain, “I cannot program to these requirements.” And theyre right.

via On Reqs and Specs: The Roles and Behaviors for Effective Product Definition.

One of our most popular articles, John & I explore the difference between reqs and specs, and why most teams need a designer.

Pragmatic Institute
John Milburn
John Milburn is CEO of Practical Growth Strategies LLC, where he and his team help companies to apply and implement market-driven principles. Prior to this, he was an instructor at Pragmatic Institute and has held executive and individual contributor roles in development, sales, and product management from startups to Fortune 100 companies.