We receive dozens of proposal requests every year. Half of them start with: "We want to build an e-commerce site, how much would that cost?"
We've learned there's no honest way to answer that question as asked. A pocket knife and a butcher's knife are both "knives," but their prices are very different.
A good brief saves time for both sides. You get a realistic proposal, we get an accurate plan. In this article, we're sharing the 7 areas we end up asking about whenever they're missing from a brief.
The 7 Essential Areas
1. Current State
What exists today? Nothing at all, an old system, a competitor's product? Without understanding the current state, it's hard to grasp the scope.
Wrong: "We don't have any software." Right: "Right now we track everything in Excel and take orders over WhatsApp. We want to automate this."
2. Target Outcome (Measurable)
"We want to be more efficient" isn't a brief. The goal needs to be measurable.
Wrong: "We want to speed things up." Right: "We want to reduce order processing time from 3 days to 4 hours."
3. Number and Profile of Users
Who's going to use it? How many people? What's their technical level? A 10-person internal team versus 10,000 external users implies completely different architectures.
4. Budget Range (Realistic)
Don't avoid the question "what's your budget?" Without knowing the budget, "can we do this?" can't be answered.
Some helpful reference points:
- A simple corporate website: $1,000-2,500
- A medium-complexity web application: $2,500-7,500
- A mobile app (iOS + Android): $4,500-12,000
- An enterprise ERP module: $6,000+
5. Timeline
Why this date? Is it realistic? If there's a seasonal launch or a trade show date, mention it; it affects decisions along the way.
6. Existing Systems and Integrations
Accounting, ERP, shipping, payment systems: which ones exist, and which ones need to talk to the new system? Every integration adds work.
7. Decision-Making Authority
Who do you need to convince? Is there a partner involved? If a proposal needs multiple approvals, that extends the process.
Briefs usually list what's wanted, but not the constraints. Information like "we don't have an internal IT team" or "this needs board approval" directly affects the process.
Brief Template
Fill in the following sections:
Project Name:
Company / Industry:
1. CURRENT STATE
What are you using now? Where's the pain point?
2. GOAL
What will be different once this project is done?
How will you measure success?
3. USERS
Who will use it? How many people? Technical level?
4. SCOPE
Must-haves:
Nice-to-haves:
Out of scope:
5. INTEGRATIONS
Which systems does it need to talk to?
6. BUDGET RANGE
$-$ (approximate is fine)
7. TIMELINE
When does this need to be ready? Why this date?
8. DECISION PROCESS
Whose approval is needed?
Filling out this template takes 30-60 minutes, but it saves you 3-4 rounds of back-and-forth, and a lot of mutual wasted time.
Conclusion
A good brief doesn't just get you a better proposal; it prevents the "this isn't what I expected" disappointment after the project is done. Once the agreement is on paper, both sides are working from the same page.