Career Catalogue
Switch tool

Delivery tool

Work brief

Bring a vague request to refinement with a clearer user problem, intended outcome and smallest useful slice. Leave room for what you do not know yet.

What you leave with A shareable brief and the questions still to answer.

Start with the user, problem, outcome and first useful slice. Add supporting detail as you learn.

Review brief
See a worked example: a finance CSV export

A finance analyst reconciles invoices by copying rows from an on-screen table. The first useful change is a CSV export of that same data, rather than a whole reporting dashboard.

The example includes evidence, acceptance examples and unresolved questions. It is illustrative; replace its assumptions with what you know about your own users.

A short label is enough. You can change it as you learn.

Start with four things

Name the user and the situation they are in, rather than the requesting department alone.

Describe the difficulty and its effect. Start with the problem before choosing an implementation.

Describe a benefit they would notice, such as less waiting or fewer mistakes.

A complete change that helps someone, even if it covers only one situation.

What we still need to find out

One question per line. Include who can help answer it, if you know. This brief starts a conversation; it does not certify readiness.

Evidence and success checks

An observation, user conversation or baseline. Mark assumptions as assumptions; an unanswered question is useful too.

Name a signal, a baseline if known, and when to check. A small user test can be enough.

Scope boundaries and acceptance examples

Make the boundaries explicit so a useful first step can stay small.

Include a normal case and a boundary or failure case. “Given this situation, when this happens, then…” can help.

Constraints and dependencies

Accessibility, security, policy or a real timing need. Distinguish a hard requirement from a preference.

Name a decision, person, team or system, and what you need from them.

Your brief

Review the essentials here. Blank fields remain “To discuss” in the full export.

Work brief

User
To discuss
Problem
To discuss
Desired outcome
To discuss
First useful slice
To discuss
View Markdown 

        

        
Once the slice is agreed, decide how to demonstrate its value.

        
Prepare a demo

      

      

        
Questions to take to refinement

        
Your open questions, plus prompts for information still to discuss.

        
    
      
    
    
    
  
    

  
  
    Drafts save on this device as you write. Content stays in this browser. Clearing browser data loses the draft; copy or download it for a backup.