Template
Software project brief template.
It does not need to be finished.
Use it to brief a developer, an agency or us. It needs to be specific, not finished. These are the six things we look for, in the order we look for them, and the blanks you leave are usually the most useful part of the first conversation.
Download the templateMarkdown file · no email required
What goes in a software project brief
The problem
What is happening today that should not be. Who has that problem, how often, and what they do about it now. Plus the honest answer to what happens if nothing changes, because that sets the budget more truthfully than any estimate.
A real example
One actual case, not the category: the request that arrived, the spreadsheet someone updates, the task that takes too long. And its exceptions, because that is usually where the cost lives.
What better looks like
What would be different in three months, and how you would know it had worked. A number, a time saved, or a complaint that stops.
What already exists
The systems, tools and data involved, what must keep working, and who owns access to them. Access is the single most common thing that delays a start.
Constraints
A date that matters and why, a budget range if you have one, and anything already decided, such as a platform, a vendor or a standard you have to meet.
People
Who decides, who will use it daily, and who can answer questions while it is being built.
You do not have to fill it all in
Send it with half the sections blank. A brief with gaps and one real example is more useful than a complete document describing a solution. We read every one and reply with a first step.
Want it emailed
instead?
Leave your address and we will send the template over. It reaches the studio directly, the same way a brief does.
Two ways in.
Both reach a person.
Both reach the studio directly.