Forum Moderators: mack
I am a programmer for a small company and my boss has a strong design background but not a lot of programming experience and the briefs I get for projects tend to be very lacking.
The functionality isn't layed out clearly, the requirements are all there but they're very generic and wishy washy. The programmers (there's two of us) constantly find that we get far into a project only to discover that the client is requesting changes that our boss thinks are jst minor but are in actuality major database/code restucturing issues.
I'm not ovely experienced in developing briefs myself so I was wondering if anyone had any good advice on what to do here. Where on earth do you do to learn this stuff anyway?
The brief should be provided by the client and any meeting with the client before start of project should include people from both design and technical backgrounds to ensure everything is covered. I will not deal with an agency that does not bring technical as well as design and sales people into any initial meetings!
As a rule (I work in online marketing and use agencies, so am on the opposite side to you) the following formula works well for all projects:
1. Client produces brief for project which is discussed in detail with design and technical team reps present
2. Brief is agreed, with amendments based on your views if necessary
3. A Statement of Work and Project Plan are drawn up by you to give to the client. In this it states exactly what will and will not happen from a design and technical perspective and also timescales.
4. Client agrees and project begins.
To be honest, it sounds more an internal problem though. Your boss needs to be more involved in the technical side of things and vice-versa, so that both you and your boss, and more importantly the client, understand what the project entails and what will happen, and also what impact any changes to the brief and project plan may have to the overall project timescales...
