Business · 7 min read
What a good brief looks like
The best briefs we receive are one page long and contain a number that someone will be judged on.
Ines MarchettiManaging Partner · 28 April 2026
Takeaways
- Name the metric someone will be judged on.
- State the constraint you will not trade away.
- Include the thing you have already tried and why it failed.
01
One number
Name the metric that will decide whether this was worth doing. Everything else in the brief is context for that number.
“One page, one number, one person who owns it.”
02
One constraint
Budget, date, or an immovable technical fact. Constraints make work better; hiding them makes work slower.
03
One opinion
Tell us what you think is wrong. You are allowed to be wrong about it. It's still the fastest route to the real problem.
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