What is a product brief , how to shape it and why is it important ?

“A Problem Well Stated is a Problem Half Solved” — Charles Kettering, General Motors

Writing up a product brief is largely focused on the actor (specific user type), their needs and requirements. It can be used as the kick-off point for brainstorming, identifying product directions and ultimately — multiple product design or solution illustrations to a single given problem.

Even while at marllm our focus is on scalable acquisition for B2Bs, using genAI , the insights are versatile and relevant across various sectors we engage in, including financial , legal and others!

A well defined product brief half-solves the design problem by outlining the play of various parameters which then give rise to multiple creative solutions. Counter-intuitively, it does not limit the product solutions but make it more interesting, unique and tailored!

A product brief as a single-pointed reference can help to reach agreement on commitment and alignment between teams and stakeholders . Here is a selection of variables to consider when putting together your own product brief.

When writing product brief aim for:

• Specificity, specificity, specificity — The more concrete and fine the information in the brief is — the more possibilities for a solution.
  It is hard to solve generic illustrations such as ‘They need more insight’ but it is easy to solve specific illustrations such as ‘They need insight into what are the top performing companies in the x field so that those can get incentivised with Y and ….’ as they already contain some answers in the question
  Use multiple specific points instead of a single generic one.
• Empathise with user — their persona, needs, requirements, desired outcomes, end-uses and the definition of success should the product successfully serve them.
• Maintain unbiased objectivity — use learnings from objective sources . Put your own ideas and solutions aside as much as possible (write it down but don’t include it in the product brief) — so that new and unexpected solutions can spring from a well defined product brief 🤸🏻‍♀️

Where should the answers to the product brief questions and statements come from?

They should come from un-biased resources such as interviews, service maps or workshops with key stakeholders

Problem

Chose one key problem for the brief . It could come from the workshops with stakeholders, brainstorms and so on. New problems should have individual briefs written up.

User

Use well scripted user interview per specific persona / role to define target audience, any gatekeepers and general context of the role variables.

Product

Choose an area in the service map with most pain-points and blockers from one or two columns of the relevant stage and sub-step in which they experience the problem in. Zoom in to the sections such as needs, tasks, pain-points, blockers and other dimensions to draw the information for the product brief.

Categories of specifications a brief should cover :

1. Product & Problem specifications — What is the problem the product should solve? What is the context for it ? What is the current status and what opportunity would be available if it is solved ? What are the goals and outcomes to get out of the product .UVS/UVO/UVP
2. Target user specifications — Who is the target audience — user persona. What type of user they are — provide general context , their definition of success, day to day goals, what are their major concerns and so on. ICP,
3. Technical specifications — what are the realistic limitations such as timeframe, deadlines, resource, cost, tools, tech, or other , which might affect product solutions (smaller timeframes would lead to simpler product solutions and so on).
4. Market specifications — what is market situation and dynamic like, research. Who are the competitors with examples of relevant work ?

Conclusion

When putting together a product brief, there are multiple variables to consider — most of them come from empathising with the user and any gate-keepers that would play into their view.

It should contains key business objectives and goals that the end solution considers and makes use of.

Lastly, any limiting factors should also play into the picture of the product brief such as the time resource, budgets, tools and so on.

As you can see this draws a clear single-pointed reference of all the needs and factors that should be answered in the brainstorming phase by the solution or product ideas.