FIELD NOTE 03 / COLLABORATION
What makes a useful brief
A good brief makes room for discovery while giving the work a clear boundary.
Briefs often jump from a broad ambition to a requested deliverable. A redesigned website, a new operating model or a strategy deck may be useful, but none explains the change the organisation is trying to make.
Describe the situation in plain language
What is happening today? Who experiences the problem? Why does it matter now? A concrete account of the situation is easier to interrogate than a collection of aspirational adjectives. Include the constraints that the work will need to respect.
Define useful, not just finished
Describe what people should be able to understand, decide or do after the engagement. This creates a shared test of usefulness without pretending every answer is known at the outset. Outputs can then be chosen for the job they need to perform.
Leave space for the brief to improve
The first stage of the work may reveal that the initial question was incomplete. Agree how the team will refine the brief and who can approve a change in scope. That boundary makes discovery safer and collaboration more productive.
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AN OPEN DOOR
Bring the difficult question.
Start with the decision you need to make. We can use the first conversation to find a useful place to begin.
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