Convert Stakeholder Interview Notes Into a PRD Outline
Takes raw stakeholder interview notes and synthesizes them into a PRD outline with consolidated themes, agreements, and unresolved questions. Built for PMs after a round of discovery interviews.
When to use this prompt
Use this after you have conducted 3-10 stakeholder interviews (execs, designers, engineers, customer advocates) and need to synthesize the input into a starting PRD outline. You will need the interview notes (even rough ones) and the original research question. The prompt clusters themes and surfaces tensions, which is the hardest part of synthesis. It does not replace judgment; you still need to decide which tensions matter. Best run immediately after the last interview while the context is fresh, rather than weeks later when interview details have faded.
The Prompt
You are a product manager synthesizing stakeholder interview notes into a PRD outline. The outline should cluster themes, separate consensus from tension, and flag unresolved questions. Research question: {{research_question}} Interviewees: {{interviewees}} Interview notes: {{interview_notes}} Produce the synthesis in this structure: 1. RESEARCH QUESTION â Restate the question in 1 sentence. 2. THEMES â Cluster the raw input into 4-6 themes. For each theme: - Theme name - 2-sentence summary - Supporting quotes (2-3 short quotes with interviewee attribution) - Strength of signal: STRONG (mentioned by 4+ interviewees), MODERATE (2-3), WEAK (1 but worth noting) 3. CONSENSUS â Points where all or most interviewees agreed. List each as 1 sentence plus the number of interviewees who agreed. 4. TENSIONS â Points where interviewees disagreed. For each tension, show both sides with attribution and a 1-sentence note on why the disagreement matters for the PRD. 5. UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS â Things raised in interviews but not answered. Each with the name of the person who could likely answer it. 6. PRD OUTLINE â Propose a PRD skeleton with section headings and 1-2 bullets under each heading pulled from the themes. Do not write the full PRD. Quote rules: only quote things actually in the notes. Do not paraphrase quotes. If a theme has no direct quote, mark it as "Paraphrased from notes."
Example Output
RESEARCH QUESTION: How should we redesign the admin invite flow to reduce drop-offs? THEMES 1. Bulk invite is the hidden priority (STRONG, 5 of 6 interviewees) Admins almost never invite users one at a time in mid-market accounts. Current flow forces single invites. Quotes: "I never invite just one person" (Priya, CS). "Our admins paste spreadsheets" (Marco, Sales). 2. Email delivery is a trust killer (STRONG, 4 of 6) Invites landing in spam destroys the first impression. Admins blame our product, not their IT. Quotes: "Half our invites go to spam" (Dan, Support). "Admins email us when invites disappear" (Priya). 3. Manual role assignment is tedious (MODERATE, 3 of 6) ... CONSENSUS - Current single-user invite flow is broken for mid-market (6 of 6). - Email deliverability must improve for any redesign to succeed (5 of 6). TENSIONS - Design wants a wizard; engineering wants API-first. Design: "Wizard is how admins think." EM: "We should design around bulk CSV imports, not click flows." Matters because wizard and API have different scoping. - Legal requires audit log entries per invite; product wants optional logging for bulk imports. Matters for compliance review. UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS - What is our actual spam rate? (DevOps) - Do SSO accounts bypass the invite flow? (Auth team) PRD OUTLINE - Problem: single invite flow breaks mid-market use cases - Target user: admin at 20-500 seat accounts - Proposed solution: bulk invite with CSV plus API - Non-goals: email deliverability rewrite (separate track) - Open questions: bulk audit log requirements, SSO interaction
Recommended Tools
Dovetail is purpose-built for interview synthesis and will store raw transcripts alongside the theme clusters, preserving evidence. Notion projects is a lighter alternative when you need to get to a PRD quickly. Productboard links the synthesis to the ultimate roadmap commitment. Use Dovetail for heavier research practices and Notion when the interview volume is small enough that dedicated research tooling is overkill.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I use this prompt?
Use it immediately after a round of stakeholder interviews, while context is fresh. The output is a starting PRD skeleton, not a finished document; treat it as a 60-percent-complete draft that you will iterate on after presenting the synthesis to interviewees for validation. If you have fewer than 3 interviews, skip it; you do not have enough signal to cluster meaningfully. Also skip if your organization has a dedicated research team that owns synthesis; duplicating their work creates ownership confusion and subtle differences that cause drift.
How do I validate the synthesis before writing the PRD?
Share the themes, consensus, and tensions sections (not the PRD outline) back with the interviewees and ask: did I capture your view correctly? This takes 15 minutes per interviewee and catches misinterpretations early. Pay special attention to the tensions section; people often disagree more politely in interviews than in your summary, and they will tell you if you misread a position. Only write the PRD after at least 3 interviewees have confirmed the synthesis is accurate.