In addition to ensuring a high-quality final product, your company must allocate a large part of its resources to the pre-project process: building the briefing.‍

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What makes a briefing a good briefing?

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• A well-defined purpose

Normally, a project briefing aims to make clear all the steps involved in its development. Think about developing a website: when you read the document, you should easily understand all the steps, all the resources you need to provide and when you should expect to see news/updates.

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• Objectives

The project briefing must include the objectives. Using the example of developing a website, you can even mention two moments of objectives: development and production.

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i. Development - these are the objectives defined for building the website, e.g. "The contact page must have integration with a meeting scheduling platform" / "Videos must have a rotating carousel display".

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ii. Production - these are the objectives defined at the time the website is published, e.g. "We want to have 2k visitors per week" / "The website should generate 10 meeting bookings per week"

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• A realistic calendar

The project calendar is undoubtedly one of the most important points to take into account, because in addition to the objectives, this is the most examined dimension. The defined timeline is one of the main accountability metrics and (non)compliance often dictates the relationship between both parties.

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• Definition of setbacks

Therefore, the definition of setbacks proves to be essential in the construction of the briefing. In addition to the chain of processes being very explicit, it is necessary to clarify codes of conduct in (un)expected situations - yes, because delays and negotiations are inevitably part of all projects.

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It is necessary to make it clear that the project may not always follow the same direction, nor the defined deadline. But for this to happen, there must be well-founded and easily understood reasons for these deviations to exist.

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• Post-project metrics

After the project is completed, according to the defined objectives, the KPIs are also defined. The creation of reports with data that allows monitoring of results is an essential option and must be included in the project briefing, to ensure the monitoring and optimization of the key elements of each project.

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In short: why is it important to create a good briefing?

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• Promotes a safe relationship with customers
• Ensures accountability between the company and the customer
• Guides the team towards actions
• Protects the company against unrealistic deadlines

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In short, when all the most likely scenarios are clear, then you have a great starting point for a relationship healthy and efficient work.