Most consulting engagements that do not go well have a bad brief at the root. Not a dishonest brief, just an incomplete one. The client describes the situation as they understand it at the start, which is usually the presenting problem rather than the real one. A good brief is harder to write than it looks.
Start with what you have already tried ¶
The most useful thing you can put in a brief is a short account of what has already been attempted. Not to justify past decisions, but because it tells the advisor where the thinking has already been. If you have tried three approaches and they have not worked, that is important context. It narrows the space considerably and prevents the advisor from spending the first session suggesting things you have already ruled out.
Describe the constraint, not just the goal ¶
Most briefs describe what the client wants to achieve. Fewer describe the constraints: the timeline, the budget, the internal politics, the things that cannot change. A brief that says 'we want to grow revenue' is not useful. A brief that says 'we want to grow revenue by 30% in twelve months without adding headcount, and the CEO is not willing to change the pricing model' is a brief an advisor can actually work with.
Name the decision, not just the situation ¶
The best briefs are organised around a decision that needs to be made, not a situation that needs to be described. 'We are trying to decide whether to expand into the European market in Q1 or wait until we have a stronger product-market fit in the US' is more useful than 'we are thinking about international expansion.' The more specific the decision, the faster the work moves.
What to leave out ¶
Leave out the history that does not bear on the current question. Leave out the context that makes the company look good but does not affect the decision. Leave out the solution you have already decided on if you are genuinely open to other options. A brief that is trying to lead the advisor to a predetermined conclusion is not a brief, it is a validation exercise, and those are worth less.
How long it should be ¶
One to two pages is usually right. Long enough to give real context, short enough that the advisor can read it twice before the first session. If you cannot describe the situation in two pages, that is often a sign that the problem has not been defined clearly enough yet. Writing the brief is part of the work.
The founder advisory starter kit, available as a free download from the working tools page, includes a brief template that has been refined over several years of real engagements. It takes about thirty minutes to fill in and usually surfaces something useful in the process.