Progress keeps on making huge leaps towards practically non-stop nowadays. A mobile phone has long turned from regular communication means to an efficient work tool. For one thing, business management in companies now actively employs various software tools to promote the brand.
But where does it all start? You have been brainstorming with colleagues, coming up with how everything should look in the long run and what you will get out of it all. Now, you know exactly how your solution should look and work. You may even have already found a development company to hire.
First things first, however – you need to create a brief for your newly-hired software developers.
What is a Development Brief & its Purpose?
A brief is a descriptive document where you specify the major tasks related to the project. There, you highlight all the requirements, expectations, target audience focus, business specifics, and technical aspects. Thus, you can thoroughly explain what you need to a team of hired developers. It is an ultimate way to clarify all the basic questions from the get-go.
So, how to write a brief for developer? Here are the basic points you should highlight:
The full image of your company & its operation;
A detailed description of the functionality & superficial specifics of future software;
Technical aspects of future software;
Preferred project deadlines;
Target audience & hardware;
Integration with other solutions;
Prepared assets;
Contact info.
What Should Be in the Brief?
Introduction & description
First of all, you should introduce yourself. Tell everything that’s important about your business, major company tasks and issues. Based on that, you should follow the introduction by defining the issues the future solution should help solve. Try to explain in as much detail as possible how exactly the app will be helpful for your business. Don’t neglect complete answers when developing a creative brief.
A good way to describe the desired functionality is to mention some competitor cases. Show some pioneering solutions with your comments – what you like and what you’d like to do differently. Describe how you see your solution working from start to finish, in which aspects you’d want to see it differ from other similar solutions, the basic features and capabilities it should have. Planning briefs, It’s crucial to remember about details, even if you consider some points insignificant and believe that they can be discussed later on.
Technical requirements & desires
The technical aspects should be considered separately. What will users see when they first launch your app? What forms to fill will there be, which buttons will it feature and where will they be located? All the ins and outs are important. Think everything through and subdivide your requirements and desires by categories – for instance, technical requirements/design requirements and performance desires/visual desires.
In particular, you should normally clarify at once – with which operating system your software should be compatible? And should it synchronize with other solutions, online platforms, and such?
Deadlines
Then there are deadlines. How much time are you ready to dedicate to the project and for how long can you afford to maintain it? These are the basic clarifications you should make before specifying any terms in the brief. It’s better to not only define the ultimate project finish deadlines but also specify an approximate schedule of regular meetups, as well as deadlines for separate aspects, such as documentation and beta version completion.
Target audience
Next, your target audience is crucial, no matter which type of software or website you have in mind. Who are these people? How old are they and what are their major activities? Which apps and tools do they tend to use? Which skills might they have? These questions should necessarily be clarified to define the most proper TA. Based on this info, you also understand which particular devices to target – only smartphones and tablets or PCs and laptops as well.
Design
How should your end solution look visually overall? Will there be any sound effects or visual concepts used? If you have any readymade or exemplary cases, attach them to your brief. Explain which visual traits you’d like to see the most, which color schemes best fit your corporate specifics, etc.
Contact info
With all of the above out of the way, don’t forget to leave your contact info at the end of the brief. There should be a person responsible for all the major questions in your project. It should stay in tune with hired devs and discuss any nuances when need be. Contractors tend to have lots of questions when working on a new product. This should be taken most responsibly if you expect to get a high-quality result. A good practice is to meet with your contractor two times a week to approve the project status, discuss changes and corrections, etc.
Software Development Project Brief Template
Surely, every other development company has its own approach to client communication. They may have an exhaustive portfolio as well as an individual preferred brief example. These are individual moments that differ from provider to provider, from client to client. An approximate template for the most basic brief when it comes to software development, however, will most probably look like the following.
1. Client info;
Company (name; website; type of professional activity);
Schedule (best time to discuss any implementation aspects; meetups calendar);
Summary
Your brief is how you see the big picture of your project – its visual, technical, organizational, and budget-defining ins and outs. So make sure to take the composition of the software development brief thoroughly and responsibly. And if you have any questions or need help in formulating an exhaustive brief, we are always here to aid you – contact us for a free consultation.
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