Best Practices: Product Management PRD Skills — When and How to Use Each, and vs Plain ChatGPT

If you’re a product manager looking for PRD drafting automation, you have two main options: use a general-purpose AI chat (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude) and prompt it to write a PRD, or use a specialized workflow that structures the work, enforces sections, and validates the output. This article gives an overview of Rakenne’s 14 Product Management PRD skills, when and how to use each, and a direct comparison with plain ChatGPT—with examples—so you can choose the right approach.

What the PRD skills are

Rakenne’s PRD skills are document-elaboration workflows that run inside an AI agent in the browser. Each skill is tailored to a product-management specialization (SaaS, mobile, e-commerce, growth, fintech, etc.). When you activate a skill, the agent:

1. Clarifies scope — Asks about product area, audience, and whether this is a new PRD or a revision.
2. Loads references — Reads built-in best-practices and a sections checklist for that specialization.
3. Drafts — Uses a specialization-specific template (e.g. subscription model and onboarding for SaaS; North Star and funnel for growth) and fills it with your context.
4. Validates — Runs a structure validator that checks for required sections and unfilled placeholders (e.g. [Goal], [TODO]).
5. Finalises — You fix any reported issues and re-run validation until the PRD is complete.

Each skill ships with: a template (section headings and prompts), best-practices and sections-checklist references, and an extension tool (validate_prd_structure) that returns PASS / NEEDS_REVISION / FAIL. You get a repeatable, auditable process and a consistent PRD structure every time.

Overview: all 14 PRD skills and when to use them

How to use: Create a project in Rakenne, add the skill that matches your PRD type (e.g. PRD — SaaS Product Manager for a subscription PRD), and start a conversation. Share your context (goals, audience, constraints); the agent will draft from the template, run the validator, and iterate until the PRD passes. Export the result as Markdown, DOCX, or PDF.

Complementary option: For any document (including PRDs) when you prefer a generic co-authoring workflow (context gathering → refinement → reader testing) without a fixed template, use the Doc Co-Authoring skill. It doesn’t enforce PRD-specific sections or run validate_prd_structure; it’s best when you want maximum flexibility and don’t need a specialization checklist.

Rakenne PRD skill vs plain ChatGPT: benefits and examples

What you get with plain ChatGPT

With ChatGPT (or similar), you typically:

• Paste a prompt like “Write a PRD for our new SaaS subscription and trial flow”.
• Optionally paste your notes or an outline.
• Get back a single long response. You may need several follow-ups to add sections, fix tone, or align with your company’s format.
• No built-in structure — ChatGPT doesn’t know your required sections unless you list them every time.
• No validation — Nothing checks that “Success metrics” or “Subscription/usage model” are present and filled; you discover gaps when you read the doc.
• No template lock-in — Good for one-off flexibility; bad for consistency across many PRDs or across PMs.

Example (ChatGPT):

• You: “Write a PRD for our new SaaS subscription and 14-day trial. We’re B2B SMB, usage-based with a monthly minimum.”
• ChatGPT: Returns a long PRD-style document. It might include goals and features but omit a clear Subscription/usage model section or leave Success metrics vague. You have to re-prompt: “Add a section on subscription and usage model” and “Add measurable success metrics.” There’s no automatic check that nothing is missing or still placeholder.

What you get with a Rakenne PRD skill

With a Rakenne PRD skill (e.g. PRD — SaaS Product Manager):

• You activate the skill and say you want a PRD for subscription and trial.
• The agent follows a fixed workflow: clarify scope → load SaaS best-practices and sections checklist → draft from the SaaS template (which already has Subscription/usage model, User personas, Onboarding & retention, Success metrics, NFRs).
• The agent runs validate_prd_structure on the draft. The tool reports missing sections (e.g. “Missing: Subscription / usage model”) and unfilled placeholders (e.g. “[Primary goal]”, “[North Star / primary]”).
• The agent iterates until the validator returns PASS. You get a PRD that is structurally complete and free of placeholders by construction.

Example (Rakenne + PRD — SaaS Product Manager):

• You: “I need a PRD for our new subscription and trial flow. We’re B2B SMB, usage-based with a monthly minimum.”
• Agent: Asks: “Who’s the primary audience? What does ‘activated’ mean for your product?”
• You: “SMB and prosumer. Activated = first successful run of our core workflow.”
• Agent: Creates prd-subscription-trial.md from the template, fills sections, runs validate_prd_structure. Reports: NEEDS_REVISION — two placeholders remain. Updates those sections from your context and re-runs: PASS. You get a PRD with all required sections (Overview, Goals, User personas, Subscription/usage model, Key features, Onboarding & retention, Success metrics, NFRs) and no placeholders.

Side-by-side comparison

When to use which

• Use a Rakenne PRD skill when: You want consistent, validated PRDs for a given specialization (SaaS, mobile, fintech, etc.), you care about required sections and no placeholders, and you’re happy working in the browser with an agent that follows a fixed workflow and runs a validator. Best for repeated PRD drafting and for teams that want one standard per PRD type.
• Use plain ChatGPT when: You need a one-off draft with maximum flexibility, you don’t need a fixed template or validation, and you’re fine editing and checking the doc yourself. Best for quick, ad hoc PRDs where structure is less critical.

Best practice: For PRD drafting automation that is repeatable, consistent, and validated, use the specialized PRD skill that matches your product type (e.g. SaaS, mobile, growth). For general doc co-authoring without a PRD-specific template or validator, use Doc Co-Authoring or a general chat tool.

Summary

Rakenne’s 14 PRD skills cover SaaS, mobile, e-commerce, technical, growth, platform, data, AI/ML, B2B/enterprise, consumer, product ops, fintech, healthcare, and product marketing. Each skill gives you a template, best-practices references, and a validator so the agent produces structurally complete PRDs and iterates until they pass. Compared to plain ChatGPT, you gain enforced structure, automatic validation, consistency, and repeatability—at the cost of using a dedicated workflow in the browser instead of a single ad hoc chat. For product managers looking for PRD drafting automation that scales and stays consistent, choosing the right PRD skill for your specialization is the main decision; the workflow and validation do the rest.