How to Write a Project Brief: Simple Steps + Ready-to-Use Templates
- What Is a Project Brief?
- Project Brief vs. Project Plan: What’s the Difference?
- What Is the Goal of a Project Brief?
- Who Should Write the Project Brief?
- What Should Be In a Project Brief?
- 9 Key Components of a Project Brief
- Step-By-Step Guide to Writing a Clear Project Brief
- Project Brief Samples
- Bottom Line
Even small projects don’t simply happen. There’s a lot of work before they see the light of day. And even when they’re approved, they still require plenty of planning and coordination.
With so much information that can easily get lost, you need to write a project brief that both team members and stakeholders can access. You need to have a document that can act as a reference whenever someone has any questions regarding the project. And that document is the project brief.
What Is a Project Brief?
Simply put, a project brief is a document that includes all the important elements of a project for both your team and stakeholders. Unlike the project plan, which answers questions about the who, what, when, where, and why, a project brief is a more concise document. However, its length depends on the complexity (or simplicity) of your project.
A project brief is similar to other types of briefs you may use, like a creative brief, a business brief, or a strategy brief, but it focuses specifically on project-related details.
As a rule of thumb, project managers should start by creating a project brief right at the beginning of the project.
Project Brief vs. Project Plan: What’s the Difference?
A project brief is a quick overview that explains the why, what, and who of the project. A project plan goes deeper and breaks down the how, when, and detailed steps. Many teams use both because they serve different purposes.
|
Project Brief |
Project Plan |
|
High-level overview |
Detailed roadmap |
|
Explains goals, scope, stakeholders |
Explains tasks, timelines, dependencies |
|
Easy to read and share |
Used for day-to-day project execution |
|
Created at the start |
Updated throughout the project |
What Is the Goal of a Project Brief?
Generally speaking, a briefing delivers a complete vision of the key elements of the project. By doing so, it helps keep everyone involved and aligned toward the same goals.
There are 3 main benefits of always having a project brief document:
1. It Delivers Key Information With Clarity
The project brief should include all the important factors, elements, resources, and ideas of the project in a very clear way to ensure that both team members and stakeholders can fully understand it.
2. It Unifies Teams
When the project manager shows the project brief in the meeting before the project starts, they will see that the entire team gets closer than ever. Everyone wants to see their role and how they will be interacting with others and when.
3. It Reduces Confusion and Risk
When you’re writing the project brief, you shouldn’t do it on your own. It’s far better to ask for others' opinions to ensure that you mitigate risk and avoid wasting time.
Who Should Write the Project Brief?
Even though the project manager is the one responsible for writing the project brief, he shouldn’t do it alone. He should ask for the help of others, such as the account manager or the sales team, for example, to fill out the information regarding their department.
It is the responsibility of the project manager to come up with a document that is accessible and easy to understand by both team members and stakeholders.
What Should Be In a Project Brief?
You can see a project brief like an executive summary. After all, it needs to describe the entire project but be extremely concise at the same time.
As we mentioned above, the length of a brief varies, and the formats can also be different. Nevertheless, a project brief should include the following topics:
- Title
- Contact info of the client, along with the client’s address and type of business information
- Project background, outcomes, and scope
- Project processes and procedures
- Project goals
- Other project details including the timeline, project phases, review steps, and target audience.
In project management tools like Flowlu, these sections appear as fields inside your project, making it easier to update and share. If you need to include information that isn’t already there, you can always add it using custom fields.
9 Key Components of a Project Brief
1. Title & Description of the Project
The title should be clear, and the project brief description should be short. It needs to mention the main purpose of the project as well as the problem it will solve.
2. Project’s Goals & Objectives
It’s important to include both the goals and objectives. Notice that you should also add SMART targets.
3. The Scope of the Project
You should be very clear about what is included and not included in the project to avoid scope creep and help manage expectations.
4. Deliverables
You should also mention the outcomes, both tangible and intangible, that the project will produce.
5. Timeline
Make sure to add the start and end dates, checkpoints, and milestones. By the way, PM tools make this schedule visual with Gantt charts.
6. Stakeholders
You should add all the stakeholders that can influence the outcome of the project as well as the team members, with their responsibilities and roles described.
7. Resources & Budgets
No project brief will ever be complete without mentioning the budget that is allocated to specific resources such as materials, personnel, and equipment.
8. Constraints
This is where you should add a note regarding what can impact the budget. For example, there might be scarce resources, strict deadlines, or you might be dealing with budget limitations.
9. Success Criteria
To end this project briefing, you need to write down what will make this project be rated as a success.
Step-By-Step Guide to Writing a Clear Project Brief
Step #1: Project Overview
You should start by gathering data about your client, their business, customer base, and the contract.
Step #2: Project Objectives
This is very helpful so you can fully understand the project. You need to take a closer look at the deliverables, as well as use SMART goals.
Step #3: Project Timeline
This is where you need to define the timeframe in which you will have the deliverables. This means that you’ll need to put a start date on paper as well as describe the complete timeline. In this step, it’s important that you take a look at the most important milestones.
If you're using a workspace like Flowlu, this is the point where you'd add your milestones and link them to tasks.
Step #4: The Target Audience
While you may think that having the target audience in your project brief isn’t really necessary, it isn’t true. The reality is that besides knowing what you’ll do and when, you need to know who you are doing it for to ensure that you can mark your project as a success in the end. While you can comply with the rest of the project in terms of the budget and timeline, if your deliverables don’t meet the expectations of your target audience, you may say that your project failed.
Step #5: Stakeholders & Team Members
Finally, you need to ensure that both stakeholders and team members have everything they need. For example, you’ll need to define responsibilities and roles, include project resources, define the budget, and other details you believe are pertinent.
Project Brief Samples
Project Brief #1: A Wellness & Mindfulness App for Teens
1. Title
MindBoost: A Daily Wellness & Mindfulness App for Teens
2. Project Overview
MindBoost is a mobile app that helps teens build healthy emotional habits through guided mindfulness, quick wellness activities, and mood tracking.
3. Objectives
- Introduce mindfulness practices
- Encourage healthy coping skills
- Support emotional awareness
- Personalize content based on user habits
4. Scope
App includes guided exercises, a mood tracker, short activities, and personalized recommendations. Excludes therapy, real-time support, and content for users under 13.
5. Target Audience
Teenagers aged 13 to 18, along with parents, school counselors, and youth wellness organizations.
6. Constraints
$80,000 budget, 8-month timeline, and youth data privacy compliance.
7. Stakeholders
- Development firm WellTech Studios;
- Adolescent psychologists and wellness experts;
- School pilot-testing groups.
8. Budget
- $40,000 for app development
- $20,000 for wellness content production (audio, video, design)
- $10,000 for pilot testing and feedback cycles
- $5,000 for marketing
9. Timeline
Design in month 1, prototype by month 3, pilot in months 4–6, launch by month 8
10. Potential Risks and Communication Strategy
Key risks include privacy delays, technical issues, and low engagement. The team will use weekly check-ins and monthly reports to stay aligned
You can build a project brief like this directly inside Flowlu using a project description, fields, milestones, and custom sections.
Project Brief #2: Neighborhood Tool-Sharing Program
1. Title
ToolShare Collective: Community Tool-Sharing Network
2. Project Overview
The ToolShare Collective will create a neighborhood tool-sharing program that gives residents easy access to essential tools for home repairs, gardening, and DIY projects. The goal is to reduce individual costs, support sustainability, and strengthen community connections.
3. Objectives
- Set up three fully stocked tool-sharing hubs
- Encourage collaborative problem-solving and community trust
- Offer quarterly workshops on basic home maintenance and safe tool use
4. Scope
The project will secure community spaces, build a shared tool inventory, implement a digital booking system, and host workshops.
It will not provide contractor-level equipment, at-home repair services, or commercial tool rentals.
5. Target Audience
Local residents, especially renters, new homeowners, and those without access to tools.
6. Constraints
$60,000 budget, 9-month timeline, and compliance with local liability and safety regulations.
7. Stakeholders
Neighborhood associations, local hardware stores, community volunteers, and the municipal development office.
8. Budget
Tools and storage, workspace setup, booking system development, workshops and promotion, plus a small contingency fund.
9. Timeline
- Hubs selected in months 1–2
- Inventory purchased and setup by month 4
- Digital booking launched by month 5
- Pilot and workshops in month 6
- Full operation by month 9
10. Potential Risks
Low volunteer participation, tool loss or damage, and slow early adoption.
11. Communication Strategy
Neighborhood meetings, community posters, email updates, and a dedicated webpage.
Bottom Line
Hopefully, you now understand the importance of writing a project brief. But what’s more important, you now know how to write a project brief by yourself.
Above, you can see all the key elements that you need to include and how to display them. We even showed you two different project brief examples, from which you can learn and even transform into a ready template or sample to help you.
And remember, a project brief shouldn’t live in a static document. By keeping it linked to your work, you ensure your team stays aligned as the project evolves. To keep your project brief connected to tasks, timelines, and team members, try using project management tools like Flowlu. It’s completely free to try and doesn’t require any commitment.
The one responsible for creating the brief is the project manager. However, they shouldn’t do it alone. He should ask for the help of key stakeholders.
The main idea behind the project brief is that it is a concise document that includes all important details and can be consulted by both team members and stakeholders at any time to answer questions. This means that it needs to have a high level of detail, but it shouldn’t be overwhelming.
Ultimately, it needs to include the project scope, timeline, deliverables, and objectives.
A project brief isn’t something you write once and forget about. You should update it whenever something critical changes, like the scope, deadlines, or stakeholders.
Small projects might need just one or two updates, while bigger or longer projects may need a quick review every few weeks to keep everything accurate.
Most project briefs take anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours, depending on the size of the project and how much information you already have. If your goals, scope, and timeline are clear, it’s a quick process.
If you need input from others, it may take a bit longer, but the upfront clarity usually saves time later.
