Stuck? Start here

Figure out what problem you’re actually solving.

Projects don’t usually stall because people aren’t working. They stall because nobody agrees on what the problem is.

These are the questions I ask before I build anything. Answer them honestly and you’ll leave with a one-page brief you can paste straight into Slack. Skip any that don’t fit.

Ten minutes. No signup. Nothing you type leaves this page.

01What's happening?Say it like you'd say it to a coworker in the hallway. Not like a status update.

02Compared to what?“Numbers are down” means nothing yet. Down compared to what — last quarter? The plan? What someone expected?

03Since when?Not when it got loud. When it actually started. Those are usually different dates.

04What changed?Something changed right before this became a problem. A person, a process, a tool, a definition. Name it.

05Who owns this?One name. If the answer is “the team,” the answer is nobody.

06What are we assuming?The sentence everyone keeps repeating that nobody has actually checked.

07So what's the actual problem?One sentence. If it contains a solution — “we need a dashboard” — it's not the problem yet.

08What's the first step?Something that can happen in the next 48 hours, owned by a person with a name.

Your brief

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Your answers build the brief here as you type.

Stuck on one of the questions? That’s normal — the one you can’t answer is usually the one that matters. Send me what you have: chelsie@chelsiehodgkiss.com. I read all of them.

Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere — the brief exists only in this tab until you copy or download it. Want the full version? The Clarity Brief.