Briefs that get better work out of us

Clients often apologise for not having a proper brief. Almost nobody needs one. What we need is four things, and none of them require a document.

One: the thing that is actually going wrong

Not the solution you have decided on. The symptom. Sales calls are going quiet at the same point. The team describes the business three ways. A competitor with a worse product keeps winning the tender. Bring us the symptom and let us argue about the cause.

Two: what already exists, including the parts you dislike

The old logo, the half finished deck, the packaging that never worked. Showing us the failures is more useful than showing us the successes, because it tells us what has already been ruled out and what the internal politics are around it.

Three: who can actually say yes

This is the one that quietly ruins schedules. If the person approving the work is not in the reviews, every round takes two weeks instead of two days and the feedback arrives second hand. We would rather run three long meetings with the decision maker than twelve short ones without.

Four: the real date, and what it is attached to

There is a difference between wanting it by March and having a manufacturing slot booked in March. Tell us which one it is. A hard date attached to a real consequence changes what we recommend, and we would rather design to it than discover it in week six.

A brief is not a document. It is four honest answers.