The brief we wish every client sent us

We receive briefs that are forty pages and briefs that are two sentences. The forty-page ones are usually not briefs; they are feature lists. The two-sentence ones are usually better, because they say what the product is for.

The brief we wish every client sent fits on one page and answers eight questions.

1. Who is this for, and what do they do today?

Not "consumers aged 25 to 45". The person, the situation, and what they use now instead of your product. A coffee grinder for people who currently use a blade grinder is a different product from one for people who own a burr grinder and want a quieter one.

2. What must it do?

Three to five things, in order. If everything is essential, nothing is. The order tells us where to spend the design effort and where to accept a compromise.

3. What must it not cost?

A target cost per unit at the planned volume, or a retail price and a margin. If you do not know, say so. We can work backwards from the retail price. We cannot work from "as cheap as possible".

4. Where and in what quantity will it be made?

A product made in five hundred units in Belgium is engineered differently from one made in fifty thousand units in Shenzhen. If you do not know, tell us what you expect in year one and year three.

5. What already exists?

A prototype, a patent, an electronics design, a previous version, a competitor you admire. Send it all. The most useful thing a client can send us is the thing they are slightly embarrassed about.

6. What is fixed?

A connector, a battery, a brand colour, a mounting standard, a deadline tied to a trade show. Fixed points are not constraints on creativity; they are the frame that makes the rest of the decisions fast.

7. Who decides?

One name. Committees can advise. If the decision is shared between founders, tell us, and we will plan reviews so that both are in the room.

8. What does success look like in two years?

Sales, a second product on the same platform, a certification, an acquisition. This changes what we design. A product that has to become a platform is built differently from one that has to be the only thing you ever make.

What we do with it

The brief becomes the first page of the discovery sprint. We argue with it, test it, and hand it back with the gaps filled in. The best briefs we receive are wrong in interesting ways. The worst are the ones that leave nothing to disagree with.

If you are writing one now, send it before it is finished. We would rather see a draft than a document that took three weeks to polish.