--- name: project-briefs description: "Write project briefs that align a team before work starts: background, one goal with measurable success, audience, scope and exclusions, deliverables, constraints, timeline, owner and approvers, risks and open questions, variations for creative, product, event, research and agency briefs, sign-off and a change log. Use whenever someone needs a project brief, creative or marketing brief, agency brief, product feature brief, event or research brief, or wants to stop scope creep before a project starts." license: CC-BY-4.0 metadata: author: Afeez Adebayo author_url: https://afeezadebayo.com author_linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afeez-adebayo/ author_x: https://x.com/za_icon source: https://afeezadebayo.com/skills-md/productivity/workplace-writing/project-briefs/ category: productivity subcategory: workplace-writing version: "1.0.0" created: "2026-10-10" updated: "2026-10-13" --- # Project Briefs Projects go wrong at the start more often than at the end. The goal is vague, scope grows quietly, people disagree about what "done" means, and the team discovers halfway through that a key stakeholder expected something else. A short brief written before work starts aligns everyone on the why, the what, the boundaries and how success will be judged, and becomes the reference point when questions arise later. This skill writes project briefs for internal projects, creative and marketing work, product features, events, research and agency or freelancer work: background and goal, audience, scope and exclusions, deliverables, success measures, constraints, timeline, roles and approvals, risks and open questions, all in two pages or less. ## Operating principles 1. **Agree before work starts.** The brief is approved by the sponsor before the team begins. 2. **Goal and success measure first.** Everyone can say why the project exists and how success is judged. 3. **Say what is out.** Exclusions prevent scope creep better than long lists of inclusions. 4. **One owner, clear approvers.** Who decides, who signs off, who is consulted. 5. **Short and living.** Two pages or less; updated when decisions change it. ## Brief template ``` Project: | Owner: | Sponsor: | Date: Background: Goal: Success measures: <2 to 4 metrics with targets and dates> Audience or users: Scope: In | Out Deliverables: Constraints: Timeline: Roles: Owner | Approver | Contributors | Consulted Risks and assumptions: Open questions: Approval: ``` ## Brief variations | Type | Add or emphasise | |---|---| | Creative or marketing brief | Key message, tone, audience insight, mandatory elements, channels | | Product feature brief | User problem, evidence, user stories, non-goals, launch criteria | | Event brief | Date, venue, attendees, budget, run of show, logistics owners | | Research brief | Research questions, methods, participants, how findings will be used | | Agency or freelancer brief | Budget, deliverables, feedback rounds, rights and payment terms | ## When to use, and when not to Use it at the start of any project with more than one person, a budget or external partners. Don't use it for detailed task plans (the Planning and Task Management `project-breakdown` skill) or for proposals seeking approval to start (`proposals`). ## Inputs - The request and who made it. - Background, data and constraints. - Stakeholders and their expectations. - Budget, deadline and resources. - Any previous related work. ## Workflow ### Step 1. Interview the sponsor Why this project, why now, what success looks like, what must not happen, budget and deadline, who must approve. ### Step 2. Write the goal and success measures One outcome sentence and two to four measurable targets. ### Step 3. Set scope and exclusions In and out lists; anything ambiguous goes to open questions. ### Step 4. Define deliverables and timeline What will be produced and when, with milestones. ### Step 5. Name roles Owner, approver, contributors and consulted people. ### Step 6. List risks, assumptions and open questions With owners and dates for answers. ### Step 7. Review with stakeholders Share the draft; resolve disagreements before work starts. ### Step 8. Get sign-off Record approval; store the brief where the team works; link it from the project space. ## Sponsor interview questions 1. Why does this project matter now? 2. What would success look like six months after it finishes? 3. How will we measure it? 4. What is definitely not part of this project? 5. What budget and deadline are fixed, and which are flexible? 6. Who must approve the work, and who else should be consulted? 7. What worries you most about this project? 8. What has been tried before, and what happened? ## Writing success measures | Vague | Measurable | |---|---| | Improve the website | Increase demo requests from mid-market companies from 40 to 80 a month by June | | Better onboarding | Cut time to first value from 9 days to 3 days by Q2 | | Successful event | 150 attendees, 60% from target accounts, 20 qualified meetings | ## Creative brief additions For creative and marketing work, add: the single key message, the audience insight (what they believe now and what we want them to believe), tone of voice, mandatory elements such as logos or legal lines, channels and formats, and examples of work the sponsor likes and dislikes. A tight creative brief saves rounds of revisions. ## Kickoff Walk through the brief in a short kickoff meeting so the team can ask questions, then record any changes. Everyone should leave able to state the goal and the main exclusion. ## Acceptance criteria For deliverables, state how they will be accepted: who reviews, how many feedback rounds are included, what counts as finished and how long reviewers have to respond. Clear acceptance criteria protect both the team and the sponsor from endless revisions, and make it obvious when a project is done and the next one can start. Store the brief at the top of the project space. Keep it to two pages at most. ## Edge cases and judgement calls | Situation | What to do | |---|---| | Sponsor cannot define success | Propose measures and ask them to choose | | Scope keeps growing | Point to the brief; new items go to a change request or phase two | | Several sponsors disagree | Name one decider; escalate if needed | | Very small project | A half-page brief: goal, scope, deadline, owner | | External agency | Include feedback rounds, rights, payment and acceptance criteria | | Fixed deadline, unclear scope | Prioritise must-haves; move the rest to later phases | ## Handoffs to related skills - Approval to start: `proposals` - One-page versions: `memos-one-pagers` - Task plans: the Planning and Task Management `project-breakdown` skill - Kickoff meeting agenda: the Meetings and Calendar `meeting-agenda` skill - Marketing campaign briefs: the Content, Copy and PR skills ## Worked example A head of marketing asked for "a new website". The brief interview revealed the real goal: double demo requests from mid-market companies within six months of launch. The brief set success measures (demo requests, conversion rate on pricing pages), put the blog redesign and a new brand identity out of scope, listed eight priority pages as deliverables, named the head of marketing as approver and the sales director as consulted, and flagged an open question about CRM integration with an owner and date. The agency started with a shared understanding, and when a request for animated illustrations arrived in week five, the team pointed to the brief and moved it to phase two. ## Common mistakes - Starting work before the brief is agreed. - Goals without measures. - No exclusions. - Unclear approvers. - Briefs that are never updated. ## Changing the brief When a decision changes scope, budget or dates, update the brief, note the change and the date at the bottom and tell the team. A brief that matches reality stays useful; one that drifts becomes ignored. ## Using an AI agent The agent can draft the brief from a request email or meeting notes, turn vague goals into measurable options, suggest exclusions and risks, prepare the sponsor interview questions and keep a change log. The owner and sponsor approve the content. ## Self-check before you answer - Is there one goal with measurable success? - Are exclusions listed? - Are owner and approver named? - Are open questions assigned with dates? --- Created by Afeez Adebayo, Marketing, SEO & Growth Expert Website: https://afeezadebayo.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afeez-adebayo/ X: https://x.com/za_icon Source: https://afeezadebayo.com/skills-md/productivity/workplace-writing/project-briefs/ Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). You may copy, share and adapt this skill, including for commercial use, as long as you credit Afeez Adebayo and link to the source URL above. Keep this notice in any copy or adapted version.