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Product Requirements Document (PRD #1) - “Anyone Can Run Scoring (On Purpose)”

1. What Was Going On

With the PIP approved, the work crossed a psychological boundary.

Up to this point, everything had been about deciding whether to act. Now the organisation had formally agreed to act - but only within a very specific scope.

Outcome 1 was the obvious place to start. It was:

  • mission critical
  • foundational to every other outcome
  • the single biggest risk reducer

If this PRD was wrong, nothing downstream would matter.

2. The Conversation That Triggered This Step

The first design-adjacent conversation started badly.

“So how do we automate scoring?”

That question was immediately shut down.

The correct question replaced it:

“What does the business need to be true so Jim isn’t the only person who can run scoring?”

That reframing forced the first PRD.

3. The Artifact

Below is the Product Requirements Document for Outcome 1, exactly as produced.

No implementation. No systems. Just business truth.

# Product Requirements Document (PRD)

## 1. Outcome Reference
**Outcome Name:** Authorized scoring execution with auditability  
**Initiative:** Season Scoring Risk Reduction  
**Problem Summary:** The weekly season scoring process depends on a single individual to execute and complete it correctly.

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## 2. Business Objective
Enable authorized business users to initiate the season scoring process reliably and independently, while ensuring that all scoring requests are traceable and auditable.

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## 3. Detailed Business Requirements
- Only users explicitly authorized by the business may initiate a season scoring run
- Each scoring request must be recorded with the requesting user, date, and time
- The system must prevent unauthorized
- The business must be able to review historical scoring requests

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## 4. Business Workflow (Refined)
1. An authorized user initiates a season scoring request
2. The request is validated against business authorization rules
3. The scoring process is executed
4. The scoring request and execution are recorded for audit purposes

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## 5. Roles & Permissions
- **Role:** Scoring Operator  
  **Responsibilities:** Initiate season scoring requests and confirm execution

- **Role:** Operations Administrator  
  **Responsibilities:** Manage authorization rules and review audit records

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## 6. Constraints & Policies
- Scoring may only be initiated during approved operational windows
- Authorization rules must be explicitly defined and maintained
- Audit records must be retained for the duration of the season

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## 7. Assumptions
- At least two users will be authorized to initiate scoring
- Authorization roles are defined prior to implementation

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## 8. Acceptance Criteria
- An authorized user can successfully initiate a scoring run without Jim’s involvement
- Unauthorized users are prevented from initiating scoring
- All scoring requests are visible in an audit record

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## 9. Open Questions
- How are authorization roles approved and reviewed over time?
- What constitutes an invalid scoring request?

4. What Almost Went Wrong

Several people attempted to collapse this PRD into a solution.

  • “Can we just reuse Jim’s script?”
  • “What if we add a button to the admin screen?”
  • “Shouldn’t this be fully automated?”

All of these were deferred.

This PRD exists to define business capability, not technical approach.

5. The Decision

Decision Question Are the business requirements complete enough to design a solution that removes the single-person dependency?

Decision Made Proceed.

Why This Was Good Enough

The PRD:

  • defined clear authorization boundaries
  • made auditability non-negotiable
  • avoided design assumptions

That was sufficient to move forward.

6. What This Unlocked (And What It Didn’t)

Now Allowed

  • Write additional PRDs for remaining approved outcomes
  • Begin Strategic Domain Design for this outcome

Still Not Allowed

  • Designing user interfaces
  • Writing code
  • Selecting implementation tools

Those temptations come later.

7. Why This Step Matters

This PRD formally separated who Jim is from what the business needs.

Once that separation exists, solutions become possible.

Without it, every attempt to "fix" the problem would have been a workaround disguised as progress.

8. Sarcastic Footnote

At least one person asked whether Jim still needed to be on-call every Saturday night.

The answer was: "Let’s finish the requirements first."