Project planning guide
Write a software project brief.
A single page can give your team a useful starting point. Pick a job people do regularly and describe what gets in their way.
Download the plain-text template
Six prompts for your team
Fill in what you know. A gap can be a good starting point for discovery. Replace identifying details in any records you share.
Describe the job
Name the person, the event that starts the task and what counts as finished. For example, a property manager needs to turn an approved lease into a contract ready for signing.
Trace the current path
Follow a recent example through each tool and handoff. Note where someone waits, re-enters a detail or works around a rule. Include one unusual case.
Identify the people
Who does the work? Who can approve or correct it? Which records should each person be able to see?
Name the systems
List the tools that should stay, the records each owns and any known restrictions on access, exports or integrations.
Choose a first release
Pick one workflow that would be worth releasing on its own. Define how you’ll judge it, such as elapsed time from approval to signature or the number of corrections.
Set the boundaries
Tell us about budget constraints, deadlines, sensitive data and rollout needs. Keep a separate list of questions your team hasn’t answered yet.
What happens next?
Read the brief with someone who does the job. Ask where their last difficult case would have fit. Bring the revised version to a discovery conversation.