How many website projects run over budget or miss deadlines because the brief was vague or incomplete? If you have ever experienced endless revisions, late surprises, or features that nobody uses, the root cause was likely unclear requirements. A strong brief is the antidote: it aligns teams, anchors decisions, and prevents costly rework.
A great brief is not a bureaucratic document; it is a strategic tool. It translates business goals into concrete website outcomes, clarifies scope, and sets the rules for change. Done well, it protects your investment and accelerates delivery by removing ambiguity early.
This guide shows you how to brief a website project with precision. You will learn what to capture, how to prioritize, and which pitfalls to avoid so your team can ship confidently, on time, and on budget.
Start With the Business Case and Measurable Goals
Begin by answering one deceptively simple question: why does this website exist now? Tie the project to the organization’s strategy, market timing, or operational needs. When the business case is explicit, it becomes easier to make trade-offs later without derailing progress.
Turn aspirations into measurable outcomes. Replace “refresh our site” with KPIs such as lead conversion rate, average order value, trial sign-ups, or cost-to-serve reductions. Anchor these goals to baselines and targets, and define how they will be measured post-launch. This is where principles from requirements engineering help by turning fuzzy intentions into verifiable criteria.
Document constraints early. Note regulatory obligations, brand guidelines, technology policies, and non-negotiable deadlines. Constraints are not obstacles; they are design inputs. When captured up front, they save time by preventing cycles on options that were never viable.
Map Stakeholders and Users With Clarity
A website succeeds when the right voices shape it at the right time. Identify decision-makers, contributors, and reviewers, and make their responsibilities explicit. Clarity here prevents late-stage opinions from fragmenting scope and sabotaging timelines.
Separate internal stakeholders from external users. Stakeholders carry organizational needs; users bring behaviors, motivations, and context. Both matter, but they are not the same. Keep their inputs distinct so the brief reflects real user value rather than internal politics.
Create a simple governance model. Define who approves scope, who resolves conflicts, and how decisions are recorded. A short decision log with owners and timestamps becomes invaluable when memory fades or priorities shift.
Primary Audiences and Jobs-To-Be-Done
List your primary audience segments and the “jobs” they hire your site to do, such as researching solutions, comparing plans, or getting support fast. Focus on outcomes, not demographics. This keeps features anchored to real user progress.
For each audience, capture top tasks, success criteria, and common barriers. A task like “book a demo” has different friction points for a procurement officer than for a founder. Understanding those differences informs navigation, copy, and flows.
Translate insights into acceptance criteria. For example: “As a prospect, I can compare plans on one page and export a PDF in two clicks.” Clear, testable statements reduce debates and guide design, content, and QA.
Define Scope, Features, and Priorities That Stick
Scope creep rarely starts loud; it whispers. The best defense is a crisp scope statement supported by a prioritized feature set. Describe what the website will include at launch and, just as importantly, what it will not. Use business goals as your filter to keep scope lean and purposeful.
Break features into user stories or capability bullets and add acceptance criteria. Keep descriptions behavior-focused, not technical. For instance, “Users can reset passwords via email and receive confirmation within 60 seconds” is clearer than “Password module configured.” Clarity here eliminates assumptions that later become rework.
Prioritize with a simple, transparent method like MoSCoW or value vs. effort. Make the trade-offs explicit and documented. Teams move faster when everyone sees why a “Must-have” is non-negotiable and a “Could-have” can wait without harming outcomes.
- Must-have: Core navigation, responsive templates, product pages, checkout, analytics baseline.
- Should-have: Advanced search, comparison tables, self-service account edits.
- Could-have: Interactive calculators, personalization, chat integration.
- Won’t-have (this release): Multi-language rollout, marketplace features.
MVP vs. Roadmap
Separate your Minimum Viable Product from your roadmap. The MVP delivers essential value against the primary goals; the roadmap sequences enhancements that deepen value over time. This split reduces pressure to do everything at once and keeps launch dates realistic.
Define “done” for the MVP. Include UX polish, QA thresholds, performance budgets, and necessary documentation. If “done” is vague, timelines slip as new interpretations emerge during QA or stakeholder review.
Attach dates to roadmap themes, not just features. Themes like “self-service support” or “internationalization” align teams and keep options open. They also reduce the risk of prematurely locking into granular commitments that may change as you learn.
Plan Content, SEO, Accessibility, and Compliance
Content is the website. Inventory what exists, what is missing, and who will create, review, and approve it. Capture voice and tone, editorial rules, and a content model that supports reuse across templates. Content delays are a top cause of project slippage, so schedule it as a first-class workstream.
Outline your SEO strategy: target keywords, search intent, on-page structure, internal linking, and technical foundations like sitemaps and schema. Tie these choices to the site architecture so findability is designed in, not bolted on. Track pre-launch baselines to measure impact.
Address compliance early. Note required privacy notices, cookie consent behavior, data retention, and terms updates. Risk shrinks when compliance is embedded into requirements rather than retrofitted weeks before launch.
Accessibility and Privacy by Design
Commit to accessibility standards such as WCAG from day one. Write requirements for color contrast, keyboard navigation, focus states, alt text, and error handling. Accessibility is not just ethical; it broadens reach and reduces legal exposure.
Embed privacy controls into flows. Specify consent granularity, clear opt-out paths, and data-minimizing defaults. Align analytics and tracking with your policy and regional regulations to avoid last-minute rewrites.
Make accessibility and privacy testable. Add acceptance criteria and checklists to QA. When these criteria are explicit, designers, developers, and testers can ship with confidence—and avoid expensive retrofits.
Editorial Workflow and Governance
Define who writes, who edits, and who approves. A simple workflow prevents bottlenecks and reduces “too many cooks” syndrome. Assign a content owner for each page type to keep accountability clear.
Specify tooling: CMS roles, review stages, and versioning. Requirements like “marketing can update FAQs without developer help” save ongoing costs and increase agility after launch.
Create a living style guide. Document voice, tone, terminology, and reusable components. A consistent editorial system reduces time-to-publish and keeps brand experience coherent.
Budget, Timeline, Risks, and a Clear Path to Success
Turn your brief into an executable plan with realistic budgets and timelines. Break work into phases with deliverables, entry/exit criteria, and acceptance gates. Budget not only for build, but also for QA, content, compliance, and contingency.
Timebox decision windows and include buffers. A common rule is a 10–20% contingency for unknowns, plus a change control process. Clear rules like “changes affect scope or date, not both” prevent hidden costs and schedule erosion.
Map risks and mitigations. For each risk—such as late content, integration complexity, or third-party approvals—list triggers, owners, and fallback plans. Proactive risk management is a hallmark of professional delivery and a key rework reducer.
- Discovery complete: Stakeholders aligned, KPIs set, constraints logged.
- Design approved: Key templates signed off with content types defined.
- Build done: Features meet acceptance criteria and performance budgets.
- Launch-ready: SEO, accessibility, privacy, and analytics verified.
- Post-launch review: KPIs compared to baselines; backlog reprioritized.
With milestones like these tied to acceptance criteria, teams know exactly what “done” means at each stage.
