A well-structured project brief is the single most important document in a web development project. It aligns client expectations with delivery, reduces scope creep, and serves as the contract reference for disputes. Use these templates to gather complete requirements before a single line of code is written.
Template - Project Overview
PROJECT BRIEF - OVERVIEW SECTION Project Name: _______________________________________ Client / Organisation: _______________________________ Date Prepared: ______________ Version: _______________ Project Manager: _____________ Lead Developer: _______ 1. PROJECT SUMMARY (2–3 sentences describing what is being built and why) 2. BUSINESS OBJECTIVES What specific business problems does this project solve? 1. _________________________________________________ 2. _________________________________________________ 3. _________________________________________________ What does success look like in 6 months? (e.g. "20% increase in lead generation", "Support team workload reduced by 30%") 3. TARGET AUDIENCE Primary Users: ______________________________________ Secondary Users: ____________________________________ Geographic Regions: _________________________________ Accessibility Needs: _________________________________ (e.g. WCAG 2.1 AA compliance required) 4. BUDGET AND TIMELINE Total Budget (inc. 3rd party costs): £______________ Development Budget: £______________________________ Timeline - Discovery Start: _________________________ Timeline - Design Complete: ________________________ Timeline - Development Complete: ___________________ Timeline - Testing Complete: _______________________ Timeline - Launch Date: ____________________________ 5. CONSTRAINTS AND DEPENDENCIES (e.g. "Must integrate with Salesforce", "Must launch before Q3 campaign")
Template - Technical Requirements
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS TECHNOLOGY STACK (if specified or constrained) Frontend Framework: ________________________________ Backend / API: ______________________________________ CMS/Headless CMS: __________________________________ Database: __________________________________________ Hosting / Cloud: ____________________________________ CDN: _______________________________________________ INTEGRATIONS REQUIRED [ ] CRM: ___________________________________________ [ ] Email Marketing (Mailchimp / HubSpot / Klaviyo): ___ [ ] Payment Gateway (Stripe / PayPal): ________________ [ ] Analytics (GA4 / Mixpanel): ______________________ [ ] Live Chat (Intercom / Drift): _____________________ [ ] Authentication (Auth0 / Clerk / NextAuth): _________ [ ] Other: __________________________________________ PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS Target LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): ____________ ms Target TTFB: ______________________________________ ms Minimum Lighthouse score: ________ (recommended: 90+) Expected concurrent users at peak: __________________ PLATFORM / BROWSER SUPPORT Mobile-first: [ ] Yes [ ] No Min iOS version: ____________ Min Android version: ___________ Browsers: [ ] Chrome [ ] Safari [ ] Firefox [ ] Edge IE11 support: [ ] Required (strongly advise against) [ ] Not required SECURITY REQUIREMENTS [ ] GDPR/UK GDPR compliance [ ] PCI-DSS Level: ___________ (if taking payments) [ ] Penetration test required: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] ISO 27001 alignment required: [ ] Yes [ ] No
Scope Definition Checklist
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