Writing a Product Spec

So today, I used Claude to help me write a product spec for a new feature for a finance platform.

I wanted to see how it would do. What surprised me most was how technical it was able to get—the specificity with regard to the schema.

It’s a high-level spec but you could prompt the model to go deeper and deeper depending on what you wanted.

If you’re a PM, you might want to start writing your specs with AI.

Prompt

“Product spec for a feature that allows users to connect their bank to a finance platform.”

Output

I’m impressed. I’ve written some product specs in my day and I like the brevity and clarity that Claude gave us here:

Bank Account Connections Spec

Overview

This feature will allow users to connect their bank accounts to our platform via API integrations. Transactions and account data will be synced on a regular basis.

User Stories

• As a user, I want to connect my bank accounts to import their data.

• As a user, I want to disconnect accounts and remove their data.

• As a user, I want to see sync status for each account.

Requirements

• Integrate with Plaid, Yodlee or other bank APIs.

• Store encrypted API keys and credentials securely.

• Sync transactions and balances daily via API.

• Categorize transactions during import.

• Allow users to export transaction data.

API Endpoints

/api/v1/bank_accounts

• POST - Create new bank account connection

Input:

{
  user_id: 123,
  access_token: 'abcd1234', 
  bank_name: 'Chase' 
}

{ user_id: 123, access_token: 'abcd1234', bank_name: 'Chase' }

Output:

{
  id: 456,
  is_connected: true
}

{ id: 456, is_connected: true }

• GET - Get list of connected accounts

• DELETE - Disconnect a bank account

/api/v1/bank_accounts/{id}/sync

• POST - Trigger sync for specific account

/api/v1/bank_accounts/transactions

• GET - Get paginated transactions for user

Data Model

BankAccount

• id

• user_id

• bank_name

• access_token (encrypted)

• last_sync_time

Transaction

• id

• account_id

• date

• payee

• category

• amount

Backend Sync Process

1. Get access token from vault

2. Call bank API to get new transactions and balances

3. Parse & categorize transactions

4. Insert into database

5. Update last sync time

Error Handling

• Retry failed syncs up to 3 times

• Notify users if sync fails via email/in-app

• Handle expired credentials and refresh tokens

Performance Considerations

• Sync transaction window limited to past 30 days

• Use incremental sync after initial import

• Queue sync jobs with Redis/Celery

• Paginate transaction API responses

Here’s the live URL in case you want this project.

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