How to prepare a project brief: a checklist

In short. You do not need a finished spec. It is enough to answer eight questions in your own words: what we build, for whom and why, what the product has to do, what to connect it to, when to launch, what budget range, what materials there are and where to send the estimate. These are the same eight steps as in our brief — about 5 minutes. We then write the spec together, and that is part of the project.

The most common first message is “We need a bot — how much is it?”. It can be answered — the simplest bot costs from 3 000 ₴, a bot with online payment from 12 000 ₴ — but such an answer is of little use. The more specific the first message, the narrower the range, the more accurate the estimate and the sooner the start. Below is a checklist that takes a few minutes and an example of how to describe a task even if you have never written a spec.

Brief and spec: the difference

A brief is the task in your own words: what has to happen, for whom, what is a must at the start, when the launch is. A voice message in Telegram is a brief too.

A spec is an agreed list of what is in the project and what is out. Acceptance goes by it, and it is also the boundary of the warranty. You do not need to bring a finished spec: we put it together with you after the brief, and that work is part of the project — it is not billed separately.

So you do not have to write a spec for a bot or a website yourself: all we need from you is the brief, and we take care of the rest.

The checklist: eight questions before the start

1. What are we building? A Telegram bot, a Mini App, a website, a microservice or an integration. Not sure — say so, that is an answer too: we will pick the format for the task. Two articles help with the choice: a Telegram bot or a website and what is a Telegram Mini App.
2. For whom and why? One or two sentences: what business, who the clients are and what should change after the launch — selling, taking requests and bookings, answering clients, getting rid of routine or giving the team an internal tool.
3. What should the product do? A catalogue, a cart, online payment, booking, a personal account, broadcasts, an AI assistant, an admin panel, several languages, analytics. Split the list into “must have at the start” and “nice to have”: the second goes into the next stage.
4. What to connect it to? A CRM, a payment provider, a delivery service, Google Sheets, an accounting system, a Telegram channel, SMS or email, the current website. For each system it helps to know whether it has an API with documentation: then the estimate is more accurate.
5. When is the launch? Urgently, within a month, in one to three months, no rush — or there is a hard date: an event or a season. Faster than the minimum timeline in the price list means +20–50 % to the price, depending on complexity.
6. What is the budget range? It is a guideline, not a commitment: we use it to suggest a realistic scope for the start, not to fit the price. The minimum project is 3 000 ₴. Not sure — we will name a range by the price list.
7. What materials are there? A spec if you already have one, mock-ups, screenshots, links to similar products, competitors or your current website. Nothing at all — that is fine too.
8. Where to send the estimate? Telegram is the fastest. You can also give a phone number, and we will reply in text, or an email address. There will be no calls “to clarify”.

These eight questions are our brief: eight short steps, the draft is saved in your browser, and the answer with a range arrives within a day. Not a fan of forms — dictate the answers in a voice message in Telegram.

How to describe the task for a more accurate estimate

• The scenario through the client's eyes. Not “we need a booking bot”, but “the client picks a service, a stylist and a free slot, and gets a reminder a day before”. The scenario shows at once which modules are needed.
• Volumes in numbers. How many products in the catalogue, stylists, pages, languages, systems to connect. A catalogue of twenty items and one of two thousand are different projects.
• Examples. A link to a bot or a website you like saves more time than any spec. “Like this, only ours” is a fine answer: we do not copy other people's code, but the task becomes clearer.
• What already exists. A website, a CRM, a spreadsheet with the schedule, an Instagram account with products — what works will not have to be rebuilt from scratch.
• Who makes decisions. One person who approves the spec, watches the demos and accepts the stages saves weeks: when decisions are agreed in turn, the timeline slips although the amount of work is the same.

Here is an example:

Before: “We need a bot for a salon, how much is it?”

After: “A beauty salon, three stylists. Clients book through Instagram, requests get lost in the evening. We need a booking bot: service, stylist, free slot, a reminder a day before the visit. The administrator keeps the schedule in Google Calendar. Launch within a month.”

The first message can only be answered with the prices of every kind of bot. The second gets a price-list row straight away — “booking bot”, 6 000–14 000 ₴ — and one question: is a sync with Google Calendar needed? It moves the price within the range.

What to prepare for your format

• Bot: a bot in BotFather in your account, the chat or group where requests arrive, the texts of the sections and the greeting; for booking — services with durations, staff and the schedule, for a catalogue — a table of items with prices and photos.
• Mini App: everything for a bot, plus photos and descriptions of products, a design decision — template or custom, a domain and, if payment is needed, a merchant account.
• Website: texts and photos page by page, a logo and colours, a domain in your account, languages, where the requests go; for a shop — a product table and delivery rules.
• Integration: the list of systems and the direction of the data, API documentation, a test account and a person who knows how your data is organised.

What each format includes — on the pages for bots, Mini Apps, websites and integrations. The clock starts once both the prepayment and the materials are in, so the sooner the list is ready, the sooner the start.

What not to do

• Wait for the perfect spec. Two paragraphs and a few examples are enough to get a range and understand what exactly to prepare.
• Send passwords and tokens in a chat. Access is needed only after the start, and it is handed over in a safe way we suggest. Your Telegram password, SMS codes and card details are never needed.
• Plan everything a year ahead. The must-haves go into the spec of the first stage, the rest into a list for the next ones: that way the first version ships on time and no idea gets lost.

What happens after the brief

Within a day you get a price range and an indicative timeline by the nearest price-list row — with what is included and what is not. Then we write the spec together, fix the exact amount and timeline, and after a 50 % prepayment the work starts. The whole route is in the article how we work, and you can get a rough range right now in the calculator.

The figures in this article come from our price list: they are filled in automatically and match the calculator. It will work out the range for your task in 30 seconds.

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