How to Write Project Briefs [+ Free Project Brief Template]

If you are looking for an easy way to provide information to stakeholders, investors, and employees on the project, you need a project brief. Emails or messages will not be enough to provide information about the project to employees and stakeholders and will be full of gaps. For this reason, you need to create a brief that summarises the entire project and provides the necessary information. If you do not know how to write a project brief, do not worry, we’ve got you covered!

In this article, we will explore what a project brief is and explain step by step how to write one.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

TL; DR

• A project brief is a quick overview of your project and covers the necessary knowledge that readers may be interested in.
• A project brief provides stakeholders with the basics of the project while giving team members a better understanding of the project.
• Project briefs are important for employees to understand the project's purpose and stay informed.
• A project brief should include the following elements: project summary, purpose, objectives and key results, measurable data, timelines, and target audience.
• You can use AI tools to create project briefs from scratch or utilise them to enhance your existing project briefs.
• ZenoChat can support you in your project brief writing tasks with its multiple language models, knowledge bases, web search, and powerful retrieval-augmented generation.

What is a Project Brief?

A project brief is a quick overview of your project and covers the necessary knowledge for readers to understand what, why, when, and how of the project. In your project brief, you can list information related to your project, such as stakeholders, goals, metrics, timelines, measurable data, and audience. A project brief is a record that includes key headings and important information that you can distribute to your team and stakeholders.

Benefits of a Project Brief

A project brief provides stakeholders and investors with the basics of a project and invites them to give suggestions or ask questions. You can also organise all employees around a common goal and strengthen their communication with a project brief. Some of the benefits of a project brief include:

• Improved Project Communication
• Streamlined Project Management
• Stakeholders Collaboration
• Supportive Leadership

What is Included in a Project Brief?

A project brief allows you to convey important and desired information to stakeholders, investors, and team members. For this reason, you should include information that you think is important to stakeholders and employees in your project brief. The general rule for your project brief is to use a dose of data that will not allow readers to be overwhelmed by the information you provide. Whatever your project is, there is information you need to include in its brief;

• Project Summary
• Project Intent
• Objectives and Key Results
• Success Indicators
• Project Timeline
• Project Audience

Why is a Project Brief Important?

A project brief is an outline that will guide employees and stakeholders during the completion of your project. In addition, thanks to the project brief, all your team members can have generic information and opinions about the project. The importance of project briefs for stakeholders is to prevent them from getting lost in email or message piles and to provide them with a clear guide to understand and review your project.

How to Write a Project Brief?

To create a project brief that will guide your team members and stakeholders, you need to format and organise it before writing it. You can customise it to your project using a project brief template, or you can write one from scratch.

1-) Project Summary

If you have started writing a project brief, the first section you need to complete is the project summary. In this section, you need to explain the key points and scope of your project in a few sentences. The sentences in this section should answer the "why" questions of stakeholders and team members. You can include any links or resources here that could be helpful for readers to understand the project.

2-) Define the Project Purpose

The project purpose is the goal you intend to achieve when you complete the project. In this section, you need to explain to your stakeholders and team members what problems your project will solve. In this way, your stakeholders can understand the purpose of your project while your team members can focus on your project more efficiently. You can answer the basic questions in the minds of your readers by explaining this section immediately after the project summary.

3-) Outline Objectives and Key Results

While brainstorming and creating your project, you probably defined your objectives and deliverables. In this section, you need to explain your objectives and key results in as much detail as possible. In this section, you can divide your project into key milestones and list the expected deliverables for each part. In this section, you can also connect project objectives to showcase how each step of the process contributes to achieving the overall project goal.

4-) Define Measurable Data

You must choose metrics and measurable data that will best showcase your project's success. Your project's measurable data can be metrics such as website traffic, number of new customers, increased click-through rate, and view numbers. You can measure your project's success rate by checking this data during your project's progress. Also, defining your project's measurable data will positively affect the attitude of stakeholders and investors towards your project.

5-) Set the Project Timeline

One of the most critical elements of your project is the timeline. A project's timeline gives stakeholders and team members an expectation of when the project will be completed. You can also set your project's timeline to start your project and give it an estimated completion time. Instead of setting a single deadline for your project, you can set milestones for each stage and discuss them with your stakeholders and team members. The general advice is to add additional time to the timelines you set and ensure the completion of the process.

6-) Define the Audience

Every project has an audience that it aims to solve a problem for. You can set the tone of your project and set goals for your team members by adding a target audience to your project brief. You can also increase your persuasiveness to stakeholders and investors by adding potential audiences that will benefit from your project to your brief. Close out your project brief by defining a target audience.

Bonus Tip: Utilise AI Tools

If you want to enhance your project's brief writing process, you can include AI tools in this process. AI tools will streamline your project brief template writing process with their advanced large language models, trained data, and text generation capabilities. Moreover, you can create project briefs using your data with AI assistants like ZenoChat, where you can upload your internal data!

ZenoChat: Create Project Briefs Easily

ZenoChat is an AI companion developed by TextCortex to reduce the workload of individual and enterprise users. With ZenoChat, you can generate different sorts of written content from project brief templates. ZenoChat offers its users features such as advanced LLMs such as GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, knowledge bases, web search, powerful RAG, and individual personas. ZenoChat is available as a web application and browser extension that is integrated with 30,000+ websites and apps.

ZenoChat – Knowledge Bases

Using ZenoChat's knowledge bases, you can create separate files for each of your projects and upload your project documents. Then, you can prompt ZenoChat to analyse this data and create project brief templates. By analysing the intent in the ZenoChat prompt and using the knowledge bases folder you selected, it will generate clear, concise, and high-quality project briefs for you.

ZenoChat and its knowledge bases can also boost your enterprise's overall productivity. See the results from one of our case studies:

• TextCortex was implemented for Kemény Boehme Consultants as a solution to tackle these challenges and today employees report increased efficiency and productivity (saving 3 work days per month per employee on average).
• AICX, an ecosystem partner of TextCortex, was integral to the onboarding and helped achieve a 70% activation rate of the team within the first weeks.
• Employee confidence in using and working with AI increased by 60%.‍
• The implementation results in a 28x return on investment (ROI).

Project Brief Template

To generate project brief templates with ZenoChat, all you have to do is type a prompt. ZenoChat will generate project brief templates that are suitable for your purpose using its advanced LLMs and trained data.

Here is how it looks:

Project Title: Integrating AI Solutions into Customer Support Operations

Company Name: Acme Inc.

Project Overview:

In an era where digital transformation is paramount, Acme Inc. aims to enhance its customer support operations by incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI). This project will focus on deploying AI technologies to improve response times, increase customer satisfaction, and streamline support processes.

Objectives:

1. Improve Response Times: Deploy AI-powered chatbots to handle basic customer inquiries, enabling faster resolution.
2. Enhance Customer Satisfaction: Use AI to provide personalized responses and solutions, improving the overall customer experience.
3. Streamline Support Processes: Implement automation tools to handle repetitive tasks, freeing up human agents for more complex issues.
4. Data-Driven Insights: Leverage AI analytics to gain insights into customer behavior and feedback, aiding in continuous improvement.

Scope:

This project will encompass the following:

• AI Chatbot Deployment: Develop and integrate a chatbot capable of handling common customer inquiries.
• AI-Assisted Support: Implement AI tools that assist support agents by suggesting responses and flagging urgent matters.
• Automation of Repetitive Tasks: Use AI to automate processes such as ticket categorization and routing.
• Analytics and Reporting: Establish AI-driven analytics to monitor and report on customer support performance.

Key Deliverables:

1. P1: Chatbot Integration
   • Design, development, and deployment of AI chatbots.
   • FAQ database creation and integration.
   • User interface enhancements for easy chatbot interaction.
2. P2: Agent Assist Tools
   • Tools that suggest responses based on customer queries.
   • Prioritization algorithms to highlight urgent issues.
3. P3: Automation Processes
   • Automated ticket categorization and routing.
   • Standard response generation for common inquiries.
4. P4: Analytics Dashboard
   • Real-time analytics dashboard to monitor support KPIs.
   • AI-driven reports on customer satisfaction and feedback trends.

Timeline:

• Phase 1: Planning and Design (Month 1)
  • Define project requirements, stakeholders, and success criteria.
  • Develop project plan and timeline.
• Phase 2: Development and Testing (Months 2-4)
  • Develop and test AI chatbots and agent assist tools.
  • Implement automation processes and analytics dashboard.
• Phase 3: Deployment and Training (Month 5)
  • Deploy AI tools and provide training to the support team.
  • Conduct pilot tests and refine based on feedback.
• Phase 4: Launch and Evaluation (Month 6)
  • Full-scale launch of AI-enhanced support operations.
  • Monitor performance and gather user feedback for continuous improvement.

Budget:

• Estimated costs for AI development and integration.
• Training and onboarding expenses for support staff.
• Software and hardware requirements.
• Ongoing maintenance and support costs.

Key Stakeholders:

• Project Sponsor: Chief Technical Officer (CTO)
• Project Manager: Head of Customer Support Operations
• AI Development Team: Responsible for designing and implementing AI solutions
• Support Staff: Key users of the AI tools
• Customers: End-users benefitting from improved support services

Risk Management:

• Technical Risks: Ensure robust testing of AI tools to mitigate deployment issues.
• Operational Risks: Develop a comprehensive training program for support staff.
• Customer Risks: Conduct user acceptance testing to ensure AI solutions meet customer needs.

Success Metrics:

1. Reduction in average response time by 50%.
2. Increase in customer satisfaction score by 20%.
3. Reduction in ticket handling time by 30%.
4. Positive feedback from support staff on AI tool usability.

Next Steps:

1. Finalize project requirements with key stakeholders.
2. Select AI development and implementation partners.
3. Develop detailed project plan and initiate Phase 1.

By integrating AI into customer support operations, Acme Inc. aims to provide superior customer service, streamline operations, and maintain a competitive edge in the market. This project brief serves as a foundational document to guide the project's successful execution.

‍Ready to create custom project briefs easily? Click here to create your free TextCortex account and leverage its features to boost your enterprise.