01The problem, and who has it
A brief that starts with the solution gets the solution priced. A brief that starts with the problem gets it questioned.
- One sentence on what goes wrong today, in your words. Describe the pain, not the software.
- Who feels it: a role and a rough headcount, not "users".
- What it costs now: hours, rupees, lost orders or errors. A rough number is fine; say that it is rough.
- What you have already tried (spreadsheets, a WhatsApp group, a tool you outgrew) and why it stopped working.
02Users and roles
Roles are where most of the hidden work sits. A screen shown to one role and hidden from another is two screens of testing.
- Every kind of person who will log in: owner, staff, customer, vendor, auditor.
- For each, what they can see, create, change, approve and delete.
- Who may see whose data, for example a branch manager who sees only their own branch.
- Roughly how many of each, and on what: a phone, a shared office PC, a tablet.
03The five things version one must do, and must not
Five is a deliberate limit. It forces the ranking that a long wish list avoids.
- Exactly five, each written as "a [role] can [action] so that [result]". If you have eight, the last three wait for version two.
- What it must not do yet. This list of refusals saves more money than the list of features.
- What would make you cancel the project if it were missing at launch. That is usually one of the five.
04Existing systems and data
Moving data in is routinely the part nobody priced. It is cheaper to find out now than in week six.
- Every tool in use today, who owns its login, and whether you can export from it.
- The data to bring over: how much (rows, files), in what form (Excel, an accounting export, PDFs, paper) and how clean.
- What the new system replaces, and what must keep running beside it.
- If a product already exists: who holds the source code, the hosting account and the domain.
05Integrations: payments, GST invoicing, WhatsApp, SMS
Each integration is an account, an approval and a test. Some of the waiting is outside anyone's control.
- Payments: UPI, cards, net banking or bank transfer, and which payment gateway account you already have, if any.
- GST invoicing: whether invoices must carry GST, your GSTIN, whether e-invoicing applies to your business (ask your CA), and which accounting tool the figures must reach.
- WhatsApp: which messages (order updates, reminders, one-time codes). Messages a business starts normally need templates approved by WhatsApp first.
- SMS: the same question. In India, sender names and message templates usually need registering before the first message goes out.
- Anything else it must talk to: email, maps, a courier, an ERP, an Excel import.
06Compliance and personal data (DPDP)
India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 expects notice, consent and a way out. It is cheaper to design for that than to retrofit it.
- The personal data it will hold: names, phone numbers, addresses, ID numbers, photographs, health or payment details.
- Why you need each item. Drop the ones you cannot justify.
- How a person agrees (a box they tick) and how they ask you to correct or delete their data.
- Whether the data belongs to children, and whether a contract, regulator or customer requires it to stay in one country.
- Who is responsible for this on your side, by role. This is a checklist, not legal advice: ask your lawyer about the details.
07Deadline, and why
A date with a reason can be planned around. A date without one is usually the first thing to give.
- The date you need it by, and the real reason: a launch, a season, a contract, a funding step.
- What happens if it is two weeks late. If the honest answer is "nothing", write that down.
- What you owe the agency before then: content, data, access, approvals. Late input moves a date as surely as late code.
08Budget range, and who signs off
A range is not a negotiating weakness. It lets an agency tell you what fits and what does not.
- A range in rupees, with GST stated separately.
- Who approves the spend and who approves the finished work, and how long each takes.
- Which one can move if it must: the scope, the date or the budget. Choose one.
- Costs outside the build: hosting, licences, domain, message charges, payment gateway fees. They should be in your accounts, in your name.
09How you will judge it is done
"Done" is the word most disputes are about. Agree what it means while everyone is still friendly.
- For each of the five things, a test: "I can do X and I see Y".
- Who tests, on which devices, with which real data.
- What happens after launch: who fixes a defect, for how long, and what it costs once that period ends.
- What you receive at the end: source code, repositories, accounts, credentials and written notes on how it runs.
10Red flags in the replies you get
Tick any you see. One is a question to ask before you compare prices.
- A price in the first reply, before anyone has asked you a single question.
- A fixed price for a scope you have not written down. That is a guess with a number on it.
- No word on who owns the code, or when it becomes yours.
- Hosting, domain or app-store accounts opened in the agency's name rather than yours.
- GST not mentioned, or "plus taxes" with no rate. It should be its own line.
- "Unlimited revisions", or no statement of what a change costs after the scope is agreed.
- Every one of your five things answered "yes, easily", with no question about the data or the integration behind it.
- Nothing said about what the agency needs from you, or by when.
- No named point of contact, or slow answers before you have paid anything.
What to do with it
Send the finished brief to two or three agencies and compare the questions they ask back, not only the price. To see where a rough scope lands, try the estimator, or read what drives a quote in the cost guide. If you would rather send the brief to us, write to us: we reply within 1 hour, with a fixed price and a date, or an honest reason we cannot fix one yet.