What to Include in a Software Requirements Document

A software requirements document (SRD) is the single most important artifact in a product build. Not the design files. Not the project plan. The requirements document. When it is good, everyone — founder, designer, developer — is building the same product. When it is bad or missing, you get a game of telephone that ends in rework, blown budgets, and products that miss the mark.

We have seen both sides at Threshline. We have received beautifully organized requirements documents that made the build smooth from day one. We have also received 47-page Word documents full of implementation details and contradictions that took a week just to untangle. After building products like LancerSpace, Trackelio, and Vincelio, we know exactly what a requirements document needs — and what it should leave out.

What a Requirements Document Is (And Is Not)

An SRD describes what the software should do. Not how it should do it.

This is the most important distinction. A requirements document is not a technical specification. It does not dictate database schemas, API architectures, or framework choices. Those are implementation details that belong to the engineering team.

Think of it like ordering a house. You tell the architect: “We need three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open kitchen, and a backyard. We entertain frequently, so the living and dining areas should flow together. Budget is $400,000.” You do not tell them which type of lumber to use or how to wire the electrical panel.

Your SRD should be readable by anyone on the team — including non-technical stakeholders. If the document requires engineering knowledge to understand, it has crossed the line from requirements into implementation.

Section 1: Project Overview

Start with context. Anyone reading the document should understand what the product is, who it is for, and why it exists within the first page.

Include:

• Product name and one-line description. “LancerSpace — An all-in-one workspace for freelancers that combines CRM, proposals, invoicing, and project management.”
• Target users. Be specific. “Solo freelancers and small agencies (1-5 people) who currently use 3+ tools to manage their client work.”
• Problem statement. What pain point does this product address? “Freelancers waste 5+ hours per week switching between tools for client management, invoicing, and project tracking.”
• Success metrics. How will you know the product is working? “500 active users within 3 months of launch. 30% of users create at least one invoice in their first week.”
• Constraints. Budget, timeline, and any hard requirements (regulatory compliance, accessibility standards, platform targets).

Here is a condensed example:

## Project Overview

**Product:** SpotsMexico — Photography location directory for Mexico
**Target Users:** Professional and hobbyist photographers planning shoots in Mexico
**Problem:** Finding photogenic locations requires local knowledge, scattered blog
posts, and Instagram mining. No centralized, searchable directory exists.
**Success Metrics:**
- 200+ locations listed within 2 months of launch
- 1,000 monthly active users by month 3
- Average session duration above 3 minutes
**Constraints:**
- Budget: $30,000 for MVP
- Timeline: 8 weeks to launch
- Must work well on mobile (60%+ of traffic expected from mobile)
- Bilingual: English and Spanish

Section 2: User Roles and Permissions

Define who uses the system and what they can do. This section prevents ambiguity about access control — one of the most common sources of scope creep.

For each role, list:

• What they can see
• What they can create, edit, and delete
• What they cannot access

## User Roles

### Photographer (Free)
- Can browse and search all locations
- Can save locations to personal collections
- Can submit new location suggestions (requires admin approval)
- Cannot access analytics or admin features

### Photographer (Pro)
- All Free permissions, plus:
- Can download high-resolution location photos
- Can access crowd data (best times to visit)
- Can create unlimited collections

### Admin
- Can approve/reject location submissions
- Can create, edit, and delete locations
- Can manage user accounts
- Can access site analytics
- Can manage featured locations and homepage content

Keep it to the fewest roles possible for your MVP. Every role multiplies testing surface and edge cases. We have seen projects spec five user roles on day one when two would have covered 90% of use cases.

Section 3: User Stories with Acceptance Criteria

This is the heart of the document. User stories describe what the user needs to accomplish, and acceptance criteria define when a story is “done.”

The format is simple:

As a [user role], I want to [action] so that [benefit].

Each story needs acceptance criteria — specific, testable conditions that must be true for the feature to be considered complete.

## User Stories

### US-001: Search for Locations
**As a** photographer, **I want to** search for locations by city, tag, or
keyword **so that** I can find relevant spots for my next shoot.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Search bar is visible on the main page and all listing pages
- [ ] Results update as the user types (debounced, 300ms delay)
- [ ] Results can be filtered by: city, category (urban, nature, architecture),
      and lighting condition (golden hour, blue hour, indoor)
- [ ] Empty state shows "No locations found" with a suggestion to broaden
      the search
- [ ] Search works in both English and Spanish

### US-002: Save Location to Collection
**As a** registered photographer, **I want to** save locations to named
collections **so that** I can organize shoots by project or trip.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Bookmark icon visible on each location card and detail page
- [ ] Clicking the bookmark opens a dropdown to select an existing
      collection or create a new one
- [ ] Users can create up to 20 collections (free) or unlimited (pro)
- [ ] Collections are private by default
- [ ] Removing a location from a collection does not delete the location

### US-003: Submit a New Location
**As a** photographer, **I want to** suggest a new location **so that**
the directory grows with community contributions.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Submission form includes: name, city, description, GPS coordinates
      (via map pin or manual entry), up to 5 photos, and category tags
- [ ] GPS coordinates auto-populate when the user drops a pin on the map
- [ ] Submission goes to a review queue (not published immediately)
- [ ] User receives an email when their submission is approved or rejected
- [ ] Admin can edit the submission before approving

Write enough stories to cover the core flows. You do not need to document every micro-interaction. Focus on the 20-30 stories that represent the product’s primary value. Edge cases and polish items can be captured during development.

Section 4: Wireframes and Mockups

Requirements documents work best when paired with visuals. You do not need pixel-perfect designs — rough wireframes are fine at this stage.

Include wireframes for:

• Key screens: The 5-8 screens that represent the core user flow.
• Navigation structure: How do users move between sections? Tab bar? Sidebar? Breadcrumbs?
• Responsive behavior: If mobile is important (it usually is), include mobile wireframes for key screens.

Tools like Figma, Excalidraw, or even hand-drawn sketches photographed with your phone all work. The goal is to ensure everyone has the same mental model of the product’s structure.

What not to include: final colors, typography, or branding. Those come later in the design phase. Wireframes should be intentionally ugly so nobody debates aesthetics when the conversation should be about functionality.

Section 5: Technical Constraints

This is where you specify non-negotiable technical requirements without dictating the implementation. There is a difference between “the system must support 10,000 concurrent users” (constraint) and “use Redis for session caching” (implementation detail).

Good technical constraints:

## Technical Constraints

- **Performance:** Pages must load in under 2 seconds on a 4G connection
- **Availability:** 99.9% uptime target
- **Browser support:** Last 2 versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge
- **Mobile:** Responsive design required; native app not in scope for MVP
- **Accessibility:** WCAG 2.1 AA compliance
- **Localization:** English and Spanish; architecture should support
  additional languages later
- **Data residency:** User data must be stored in North America or Europe
- **Authentication:** Email/password and Google OAuth required
- **Export:** Users must be able to export their data in CSV format

Bad technical constraints (these are implementation decisions, not requirements):

# Do not include these in your SRD
- Use PostgreSQL for the database
- Build the frontend in React
- Deploy to AWS us-east-1
- Use JWT tokens for authentication
- Store images in S3 buckets

The engineering team should make implementation decisions based on the constraints. If you have a strong preference for a specific technology (maybe your team already knows Supabase, or you have an existing Flutter app you want to integrate with), mention it as a preference, not a requirement.

Section 6: Out of Scope

This section is just as important as what is in scope. It prevents scope creep by explicitly naming features that will not be built in this phase.

## Out of Scope (V1)

The following features are intentionally excluded from the MVP.
They may be considered for future versions.

- Native mobile application (responsive web only for V1)
- Real-time chat or messaging between users
- Payment processing or e-commerce features
- AI-powered location recommendations
- User-generated reviews or ratings (admin-curated only for V1)
- Integration with third-party tools (Lightroom, Google Maps lists)
- Multi-language support beyond English and Spanish

Be explicit. If you do not say “no AI recommendations in V1,” someone will suggest it mid-sprint and the team will spend two weeks debating it. Putting it in out-of-scope makes the conversation easy: “That’s a great idea for V2. Let’s ship V1 first.”

Section 7: Timeline and Milestones

Break the project into phases with clear deliverables. This does not need to be a detailed Gantt chart — milestones are enough.

## Timeline

### Phase 1: Foundation (Weeks 1-2)
- Authentication and user profiles
- Database schema and API layer
- Basic location listing and detail pages

### Phase 2: Core Features (Weeks 3-5)
- Search and filtering
- Collections (save and organize)
- Location submission flow
- Admin review queue

### Phase 3: Polish and Launch (Weeks 6-8)
- Responsive design refinement
- Performance optimization
- SEO (meta tags, sitemap, structured data)
- Beta testing with 20 invited users
- Bug fixes from beta feedback
- Launch

The timeline should be collaborative. Write your ideal timeline, then discuss it with the engineering team. They will tell you if it is realistic and where the risks are. Adjust together.

What NOT to Include

Knowing what to leave out is just as important as knowing what to include. Here are common mistakes:

Do not write implementation specifications. Database schemas, API endpoint definitions, class diagrams — these are the engineering team’s job. Including them in the SRD creates two problems: they constrain the team’s ability to make good technical decisions, and they create a document that is immediately outdated when the architecture evolves during development.

Do not write a novel. A 50-page requirements document will not be read. Aim for 10-20 pages including wireframes. If you cannot describe your MVP in that space, your scope is too large.

Do not describe obvious interactions. “The user clicks the login button and is redirected to the login page” does not need to be a user story. Focus on behaviors that are unique to your product.

Do not include visual design decisions. Colors, fonts, spacing, and animation details belong in the design system, not the requirements document. Specify the user experience, not the visual treatment.

Do not specify exact copy. Error messages, button labels, and notification text will change. Describe the behavior (“show an error when the email is already registered”) and let the design phase handle the exact words.

A Reusable Template

Here is the skeleton we use at Threshline. Copy it and fill in the sections:

# [Product Name] — Software Requirements Document

## 1. Project Overview
- Product name and description
- Target users
- Problem statement
- Success metrics
- Budget and timeline constraints

## 2. User Roles and Permissions
- Role definitions
- Permission matrix

## 3. User Stories
- Organized by feature area
- Each story has acceptance criteria

## 4. Wireframes
- Key screens (attach or link to Figma)
- Navigation structure
- Mobile layouts

## 5. Technical Constraints
- Performance targets
- Browser/device support
- Accessibility requirements
- Localization needs
- Data and compliance requirements

## 6. Out of Scope
- Features explicitly excluded from this phase

## 7. Timeline and Milestones
- Phased delivery plan
- Key milestones and deliverables

## 8. Open Questions
- Unresolved decisions that need stakeholder input

That last section — Open Questions — is underrated. It is a place to park decisions that are not yet made, rather than pretending they do not exist. “Do we require phone verification for signups?” is a perfectly valid open question. Better to surface it early than discover the disagreement during development.

The Living Document

A requirements document is not carved in stone. It should evolve as you learn more — from user research, technical discovery, and early testing. The key is to update it deliberately, with everyone aware of the changes, rather than letting requirements drift through Slack messages and verbal agreements.

We use the SRD as the source of truth throughout the build. When someone asks “should this feature work like X or Y?” the answer is either in the document or it becomes a tracked decision that updates the document. This discipline is what keeps projects on track and on budget. We wrote about the cost implications of scope drift in our guide to software maintenance costs.

Write the document before you write the code. You will thank yourself later.

If you are starting a product build and want help turning your idea into a clear requirements document, reach out at hello@threshline.com. We do this with every client project and we are happy to walk you through the process.