Write a brief worth reading

Hello,

A brief is one of the highest-leverage things you'll ever write. Get it right and the work comes back close to what you pictured. Get it vague and you'll spend weeks nudging people towards a target you never named.

The good news: a strong brief is short. It's clarity that matters, not length.

What every brief needs

Whether you're writing for an agency, a freelancer or your own team, the same four things do most of the work:

• The goal — what should be different once this is done
• The why — the reason it matters now, so trade-offs make sense
• The constraints — budget, deadline, platform, anything fixed
• The definition of done — how we'll all agree it's finished

Miss that last one and every brief becomes a negotiation at the end.

Write it for the person doing the work

The mistake I see most is briefs written to cover the writer, not to help the reader. Long, cautious, and strangely empty of actual direction.

A brief is a gift to the person doing the work, not a shield for the person requesting it.

So keep it human. A few tips that never fail me:

1. Lead with the outcome, not a pile of background
2. Say what "good" looks like with an example if you can
3. Name what you don't want — it's often more useful than what you do

Read it back and ask: if I knew nothing about this, could I start? If yes, you're done. If no, it's not the reader who's confused — it's the brief.

Keep it clear, keep it honest, and you'll get far fewer surprises at the end.

If you'd like me to sanity-check a brief before it goes out, book advisory time and we'll tighten it up together.