01 / THE PROJECT BRIEF
Start with the important journeys. A visitor may need to compare services, request a quote, find an article or purchase a product. An editor may need to publish a campaign without changing a template. Describe those jobs in plain language and identify who uses each part of the website.
Give each journey an observable outcome. A contact form needs a valid delivery destination and clear success and failure messages. A content library needs a way to browse and find material. These are better requirements than “make it modern” because a team can review whether they work.
02 / THE PROJECT BRIEF
List the templates you need, then provide representative content for each. Include a long title, a short article, a page without an image and a complex product where relevant. Design and development decisions become more reliable when they are tested against actual material rather than matching placeholder paragraphs.
Clarify what editors can change. Page order, image crops, reusable sections and navigation may need different controls. Unlimited flexibility is not always helpful: a smaller set of dependable sections can make publishing easier and keep pages consistent.
- The templates and reusable sections required
- Realistic text, images and edge cases
- Which controls editors need and which should stay fixed
03 / THE PROJECT BRIEF
Identify features that should continue working if the site changes its visual design. A business workflow, integration or structured data process needs a clear home and owner. The implementation may involve a plugin, theme code or an external service; the choice should follow the feature’s purpose.
List existing plugins and explain what each does. Note licences, renewal owners and any custom modifications. The goal is not to remove plugins simply to make a number smaller. It is to avoid overlapping responsibilities and understand which dependencies the website needs.
04 / THE PROJECT BRIEF
For every integration, name the system, the information exchanged and the person who owns the account. Explain what should happen if the service is unavailable. A newsletter signup, CRM submission and payment workflow have different validation and operational requirements.
Forms need more than a list of fields. Agree required information, spam controls, delivery or storage, confirmation messages and access to submissions. Do not assume a visually successful submit means a message has reached the intended inbox. Include a practical delivery test in the launch checks.
05 / THE PROJECT BRIEF
If an existing website is being replaced, identify content, media, users and URLs that must move. Review a sample migration before moving everything. Redirects, broken links and editor permissions deserve their own checks rather than being left inside a vague “go live” task.
Agree who takes backups, approves the release and decides whether to roll back. Staging should resemble the important parts of the production setup without being treated as proof that every production integration is already working. Hosting, email and external services need checks in their actual environment.
06 / THE PROJECT BRIEF
A handover should explain the controls the team will use, dependencies that require renewal and the process for requesting changes. Include the ownership of source code, accounts, updates and backups in the conversation. Support arrangements should describe the agreed work rather than relying on an undefined promise of ongoing help.
FinderPress’s WordPress development service covers new sites, focused improvements, plugins and WooCommerce work. Send the current URL, priority journeys and the information you already have. The next step is to turn that material into a scope that both sides can review.
- Priority journeys and templates
- Editor and integration requirements
- Migration, launch and handover owners
FinderPress provides WordPress services. Review the approach, deliverables and project options, then send a brief through the quotation form.
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