05 — Planning

Purpose: Create a comprehensive plan for your MVP including user stories, PRD, visual mockups, and AI Baseline design

Outcome: Have a complete plan (user stories, PRD, mockups, AI Baseline design) that guides implementation

Audience: PM / Dev / Both

Time: 1-2 days

Prerequisites: Decide What to Build - Decision to build, key problems identified, innovation aspects defined

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

1. Generate and refine user stories using AI tools

2. Create a comprehensive PRD using AI tools

3. Design complete user journeys and create visual mockups using UX Pilot

4. Plan AI Baseline integration including service selection, model choice, and prompt design

5. Export mockups ready for implementation planning

Jobs-to-Be-Done

• When: I have a decision to build and need to create a detailed plan

• I want: To generate user stories, create a PRD, design visual mockups, and plan AI Baseline integration

• So that: I have a clear blueprint that guides implementation including AI components

Inputs

• Decision to build from 06 — Synthesize Insights → Decision

• Key problems identified and innovation aspects defined

• Understanding of target users and value proposition

• Access to AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, or Cursor)

• Access to UX Pilot for mockup generation

Planning Workflow

Planning follows a sequential workflow with three main activities:

1. Generate User Stories: Create prioritized user stories that define MVP functionality

2. Create PRD & Plan AI Baseline: Generate comprehensive PRD and plan AI integration

3. Design Mockups: Create visual mockups of your complete user journey

💡 Tip: Follow the activities in order. Each builds on the previous one.

Activities Overview

1. Generate User Stories

Purpose: Create prioritized user stories that define your MVP's core functionality

Key Steps:

• Use AI tools to generate initial user stories

• Review and refine stories with AI assistance

• Prioritize stories based on MVP scope

• Finalize list ready for PRD creation

Time: 30-60 minutes

Detailed Guide: 05 — Planning: User Stories

2. Create PRD & Plan AI Baseline

Purpose: Generate comprehensive PRD and plan AI Baseline integration (if applicable)

Key Steps:

• Generate PRD from user stories using AI tools

• Review and refine PRD sections

• Plan AI Baseline integration (service, model, prompts)

• Document AI features in PRD

Time: 2-4 hours

Detailed Guide: 05 — Planning: PRD & AI Baseline

3. Design Mockups

Purpose: Create visual mockups of your complete user journey using UX Pilot

Key Steps:

• Review PRD and identify user flows

• Create flows and generate screens in UX Pilot

• Iterate on mockups based on UX best practices

• Export all mockups to PNG format

Time: 2-4 hours

Detailed Guide: 05 — Planning: Mockups

Apply It Now

Task: Complete planning for your MVP

Follow the sequential workflow:

1. Generate User Stories: Complete 05 — Planning: User Stories

   • Generate user stories using AI tools

   • Iterate and finalize user stories

   • Prioritize stories for MVP scope

2. Create PRD & Plan AI Baseline: Complete 05 — Planning: PRD & AI Baseline

   • Generate comprehensive PRD using AI tools

   • Review and refine PRD

   • Plan AI Baseline integration (if applicable)

   • Document AI service, model, and prompt design

3. Design Mockups: Complete 05 — Planning: Mockups

   • Create user flows and screens in UX Pilot

   • Iterate on mockups

   • Export all mockups to PNG

Artifacts: You'll create:

• Finalized user stories list

• Comprehensive PRD document

• UX Pilot mockups (PNG files for all screens)

• AI Baseline plan/design (if applicable)

Artifacts

You'll create throughout planning:

• User stories list (prioritized)

• Product Requirements Document (PRD)

• UX mockups (PNG files for all screens)

• AI Baseline plan/design (if applicable)

Worked Example

Situation: Planning for a B2B AI SaaS retrospective tool

Planning Process:

1. User Stories (05 — Planning: User Stories): Used Claude to generate 12 user stories from problem statement

   • Iterated 3 times to refine and prioritize

   • Finalized 8 core MVP stories

   • Time: 45 minutes

2. PRD & AI Baseline (05 — Planning: PRD & AI Baseline): Generated comprehensive PRD using Claude with PRD template structure

   • Included all sections: purpose, scope, personas, journeys, requirements

   • Defined acceptance criteria for each feature

   • Planned AI Baseline integration (Anthropic Claude 3.5 Sonnet)

   • Designed prompt templates for insights generation

   • Documented AI features in PRD

   • Time: 3 hours

3. Mockups (05 — Planning: Mockups): Created flows in UX Pilot

   • Authentication flow (3 screens)

   • Primary user journey (5 screens)

   • Dashboard (2 screens)

   • Exported 10 PNG mockup files

   • Time: 3 hours

Time: Planning took 1.5 days total

Checklist

Before proceeding to the next chapter, verify:

User Stories (05 — Planning: User Stories):

• User stories generated and finalized

• User stories prioritized (Must Have / Should Have / Could Have)

• All core functionality covered in user stories

PRD & AI Baseline (05 — Planning: PRD & AI Baseline):

• PRD created and reviewed

• All PRD sections completed

• Acceptance criteria defined for each feature

• AI Baseline planned and designed (if applicable)

• AI features documented in PRD (if applicable)

Mockups (05 — Planning: Mockups):

• UX mockups created in UX Pilot

• All mockups exported to PNG

• Complete user journey designed and documented

• All screens referenced in PRD are created

Self-Assessment

1. What should you do first in the planning phase?

   • Create mockups

   • Generate user stories ✓

   • Set up Git repository

   • Write code

2. What should be included in your PRD? (Select all)

   • Purpose & Vision ✓

   • Functional Requirements ✓

   • User Journeys ✓

   • Complete product design for all future releases

3. Where do you design the complete user journey?

   • During implementation

   • In the Setup chapter

   • In UX Pilot during Planning ✓

   • After deployment

Exit Criteria

You're ready to proceed to 06 — Setup when:

• User stories are finalized and prioritized

• PRD is complete and reviewed

• All mockups are created and exported

• Complete user journey is designed and documented

• AI Baseline planning is complete (if applicable)

• All planning artifacts are ready for implementation

Dependencies & Next Steps

Prerequisites Completed

• Decide What to Build - Decision to build, key problems identified, innovation aspects defined

Next Steps

Follow the sequential workflow:

1. Start with: 05 — Planning: User Stories - Generate and finalize user stories

2. Then: 05 — Planning: PRD & AI Baseline - Create PRD and plan AI integration

3. Then: 05 — Planning: Mockups - Design and export mockups

4. Finally: Proceed to 06 — Setup - Set up development environment and create implementation plan

What This Enables

Completing planning enables:

• Clear direction from PRD and user stories

• Visual reference from mockups

• Structured approach to implementation

• Better understanding of scope and requirements

• Well-planned AI integration (if applicable)

Related Resources

• 05 — Planning: User Stories - Detailed user stories guide

• 05 — Planning: PRD & AI Baseline - Detailed PRD and AI Baseline guide

• 05 — Planning: Mockups - Detailed mockups guide

• PRD Template - Template for creating your PRD

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💡 Tip: Don't rush the planning phase. A solid PRD and mockups will save significant time during development. 📝 Note: The journey design happens here in Planning using UX Pilot. Implementation will follow in later chapters. ⚠️ Warning: Don't skip mockups. They help Cursor understand your vision and generate better UI code during implementation.