If you’ve ever hired a developer or an agency and been surprised by the final result, there’s a reasonable chance the brief was unclear. Not because you described it wrong — but because software briefs have specific failure modes that are easy to stumble into without knowing.
Here’s what a good brief looks like and how to write one.
The two things a brief must accomplish
- Communicate the problem you’re solving (not just the solution you’ve imagined).
- Give enough context for a developer to make sensible decisions when unexpected situations come up — without checking with you for every minor detail.
The brief doesn’t need to specify every button and field. It needs to explain why the system exists, who uses it, and what success looks like.
What to include
Background and context. What does your business do? What process does this software support? What are you doing today to handle this (spreadsheets, manual steps, another tool)? This gives the developer a reference point.
Who will use it and how. “The operations team” is better than nothing, but “three operations staff who are not technically literate, using it on Windows laptops from two office locations” is much more useful. User context shapes almost every design decision.
What it needs to do. List the features, but frame them as user goals: “A staff member should be able to create a new client record, attach documents, and mark them as verified.” This is more useful than “client CRUD with document upload.”
What it connects to. Integrations — payment gateways, existing databases, third-party APIs, ERP systems — are often where the complexity lives. List every external system the new software needs to talk to.
What success looks like. “Invoice processing time should drop from 30 minutes to under 5 minutes per invoice” is a clear success metric. “It should work well” is not.
What you explicitly don’t want. This is underrated. If there’s a feature you’ve seen elsewhere that you specifically don’t want, say so. It avoids wasted effort.
Timeline and hard constraints. Is there a specific date driving the schedule? A seasonal deadline, a product launch, a board meeting? These should be upfront.
What to leave out
Don’t over-specify the implementation. You don’t need to choose the database, the framework, or the infrastructure in the brief — unless you have strong reasons. Let the technical team make those decisions based on the requirements.
Don’t pad the document with vague aspirations (“scalable,” “future-proof,” “intuitive”). Replace these with specific requirements or remove them.
A template to start
1. What this software is for (2–3 sentences)
2. Who uses it (roles, technical level, number of users)
3. Current process (how is this handled today)
4. Key features needed (user goal format)
5. Integrations required
6. What success looks like (measurable where possible)
7. Explicitly out of scope
8. Timeline and deadlines
9. Budget range (if you're comfortable sharing)A solid brief doesn’t need to be longer than two pages. The goal is clarity, not comprehensiveness.
If you’d like to share a draft brief with us, we’ll give honest feedback on what’s clear, what needs more detail, and what might be missing. Start here. For an example of how scoping plays out in real operations, read Operations Software That Actually Pays Off.
