How to Brief a Developer for a Custom Portal (So You Don't Waste Budget)

“I want a website like Facebook.”

That is the most expensive sentence in software development.

If you want to build a custom client portal, dashboard, or internal tool, you need a clear brief. Without one, you are paying for your developer to guess.

The “Problem-First” Brief

Don’t start with features (“I need a login button”). Start with problems (“My clients keep losing their invoices”).

The Checklist

1. The User: Who is using this? (e.g., “My 60-year-old accountant” vs. “My 20-year-old marketing intern”).
2. The Trigger: When do they use it? (e.g., “Daily at 9am” vs. “Once a year at tax time”).
3. The Input: What data goes in? (Files, text, dates?).
4. The Output: What comes out? (PDFs, emails, reports?).

Define “Done”

What does success look like?

• “It saves me 5 hours a week.”
• “It reduces client emails by 50%.”

If you can measure it, we can build it.