You don’t need a fancy template, a designer, or a 20-page document to describe your software idea or company bottlenecks, that slows down your employees.

What you need is clarity and 15 focused minutes. Most small firms stall right here. You might have problems, time wasters, or manual processes, but you are worried that no developer or designer will be able to understand them.

So projects never move beyond the “we should build something” stage.

Give us a try

As a company, we estimated over 300 projects in total.

We’ve seen apps described as simple sketches on the calls, and 80 pages PDF’s with all the details and charts. Lately, we are flooded with app descriptions generated by AI. So at this point we can say – we’ve seen a lot.

From our experience – the simpler description of the starting point, the better.

Step-by-step: The 15-minute application brief plan

Minute 1-3 – define the goal

Write one sentence:
“We want the app to [solve what problem] for [who] so they can [do what easier/faster/better].”

Example:
“We want an internal app to track project hours automatically so our consultants stop wasting Fridays on Excel.”

That’s enough to anchor every later decision.

Minute 4-6 – list the key features

Think function, not buttons.
Write down what users should be able to do, not how it looks.

Example:

• Add and edit projects
• Log hours per consultant
• Generate invoice report
• Get monthly summary email

If you’re not technical, describe it in plain language – that’s exactly what solution architects will translate into system logic.

And for real, don’t spend days on the wishlist. The core of the app should address the primary issue. You can always extend it.

Minute 7-9 – map the data flow

Grab a piece of paper (yes, real paper).

Draw boxes for the main parts of your process: clients, projects, users, and invoices.

Then connect them with arrows: “hours go to reports,” “reports go to invoices”.
Don’t worry about details or tech names. Just mark unknowns with question marks or “AI?” bubbles.
Those black boxes are where consultants or architects step in to propose options later.

If you prefer digital sketching, tools like Balsamiq or Whimsical are perfect.
They’re simple enough that anyone can use them. You don’t need design skills.

Minute 10-12 – define inputs and outputs

For each main box, answer two questions:

1. What comes in? (user fills form, import from Excel, etc.)
2. What comes out? (report, notification, dashboard, file)

That’s the skeleton of your app logic.

Minute 13-15 – describe success

How will you know it works?

Examples:

• “Team stops tracking time manually.”
• “Reports ready in one click.”
• “No more duplicate data between Excel and CRM.”

That’s your measurable success criteria. This is the difference between an idea and the specification.

A simple template you can copy

That’s it.

You now have a brief that is clear enough for any software agency to understand the scope, complexity, and estimate it.

Why it works

A clear brief saves weeks of vague meetings.

It helps developers estimate faster, and it protects you from over-engineering what you don’t need.
And if you work with a solution architect, this process is even faster.
In 15 minutes together, they can help you sketch it, challenge weak assumptions, and turn it into a ready-to-estimate blueprint.

Of course, at some point later on, you will have to decide about way more details. Building an app is quite a complex task, but don’t let that hold you back from getting started and solving the bottlenecks with software or automation.

Time is money, isn’t it?

Need a hand?

If you’d rather not do it alone, we can sit down with you, literally for 15 minutes, and draft the same brief together.

You’ll walk away with a visual map of your idea and a document ready to send to any software development agency.