A weak brief costs more than a weak writer. When a draft misses, the cause is nearly always upstream. This is the one-page brief we hand to every writer.
The six fields
- Reader: one specific person and what they already know
- Question: the thing they typed or asked
- Answer: our position in two sentences
- Proof: the data, example or quote that earns it
- Next step: what the reader should do after reading
- Not this: angles and claims to leave out
Why the last field matters most
Telling a writer what to leave out removes the padding before it is written. It also stops three articles from covering the same ground.
Fill the brief in before commissioning anything. If you cannot write the answer in two sentences, the piece is not ready to be written.
