Writing Project Briefs That Emphasize Outcomes

Career advice I’d give my younger self: Keep a record of your wins Document your accomplishments as you go - not just what you did, but the real impact. (Keep this in a personal repository, not at work.) Most of us move from project to project, thinking we’ll remember the details when we need them. Then, when it’s time for a job search or a performance review, we struggle to articulate our impact. Instead, whenever you start a new project, ask yourself: “How will my future self talk about this?” Think in terms of a story - a problem worth solving, a difficult and challenging solution, and a meaningful transformation. You don’t have to wait until the project is finished to start writing it. Step 1: The problem What problem are you solving? A (business) problem worth solving has the problem itself, which lead to symptoms that, if they aren't addressed, can lead to disaster. For example, you might be replacing a legacy workflow. The old workflow is slow and includes manual steps. This results in errors and customer dissatisfaction, which leads to financial risk (due to errors) and churn, resulting in stagnant revenue and declining market share. You'll get more insight over time, but just start at the start. Write down what you know. Step 2: Document the outcomes you (or your leadership) are expecting or hoping for You may not know the final impact yet, but you have a hypothesis. What will change if your project succeeds? More revenue? Higher efficiency? Customer satisfaction improvements? Write that down. The transformation is often the opposite of the problem: if revenue is stagnant, the goal is growth. If churn is rising, the goal is retention. Define the ideal outcome early. Step 3: Capture the key components of the solution As technologists, we naturally document what we built. That’s fine, but remember—hiring managers and execs care less about features and more about impact. And how you collaborated and persuaded stakeholders to create and keep alignment. Step 4: Update your story as you go As your project progresses, go back and update: ✔ What you learned about the real problem ✔ Changes in your approach ✔ The actual results once customers started using your solution Often, the results blossom in unexpected ways - leading to social proof like customer stories, awards, or internal recognition. Capture those. These stories become the basis of a resume that gets interviews and they're great for performance reviews.

Resist the urge to write “to drive pipeline/revenue” on every project/experiment/strategy brief’s goal section. This is SO tempting to do! (My past self is really guilty of this.) I still see this so often, too. But let’s be honest, everything is meant to drive revenue in some sort of fashion. The clearer the goal. The clearer the direction. The better the work. The better the results. Go a layer or two deeper into the inputs or bets you’re taking to achieve your revenue stretch goal. Nearly every company will have a “fill-in-the-gap” hole to reach audacious goals against what they’ll realistically hit. I like to clearly outline during annual or semi-annual planning which inputs the team(s) (should be multiple departments, ideally) will focus on collectively to close the large gap. Not every input can increase, nor overnight, and it takes focus effort to move a select few meaningfully. Examples: ‣ Improve high intent submission —> qualified pipeline by X% ‣ Decrease avg. cost per qualified opp by X% ‣ Improve win rate by X% ‣ the list goes on — all inputs into the revenue model (marketing owned or not) Once the bets have been decided upon, I like to create briefs that outline the goals or even a layer deeper to reach that subset goal. Then individual briefs that branch off of this. Yes, I know it sounds like documentation overkill - but it’s SO helpful for communication and alignment. This is where the magic starts to happen within the team from a focus and creativity standpoint. Because always seeing revenue as a goal isn’t that clear.

Two project management truths: → Your team needs updates → Your leaders need outcomes A one-size-fits-all communication is a fast track to confusion. PMs are the translator between ground-level work and top-floor priorities. If you're saying the same thing to everyone, someone is not hearing what they need. Here's how you tailor your communication AND drive clarity at every level: 👉 Lead with "what this means for you" Customize your opening line based on who's listening/receiving. 👉 Use dashboards for execs and details for doers High-level visuals win at the top, while tasks/dependencies/blockers matter most to teammates. 👉 Talk outcomes over activity Tell leaders what got done and what it unlocks next. 👉 Summarize first, explain second Start updates with a clear summary (think TL;DR). Include details further down for those who want more. 👉 Repeat your message but adapt the framing Repetition builds trust. Repeat the right level of detail to each audience. Effective PMs are more than organized. They're multilingual. 🤙

They'd be a fool not to see how valuable your data team is if you write like this. - It’s time for you to write a quarterly update to your boss. - It’s time to present the project executive sponsor with an update. - It’s time to present the client with a final read-out at the close of the project. - It’s time to pitch the board on an initiative that requires a large financial investment. … You can write about your input. “I billed this many hours” “I hired 5 new team members” … You can write about your outputs. “I delivered a new web application” “We built a new database for reporting” … Or you can write about outcomes. “We decreased customer onboarding time by 35%” “We improved the accuracy end of month financial reporting by 3%” … The first two require the reader to connect lots of dots to get to value. The value of your work is only visible in the third one. Connect the dots for your reader. Don’t make them try to figure out the value you created by giving them a list of inputs and outputs.