One of the most common Starting Up pitfalls is spending too long on the Project Brief. The Starting Up phase should be short and decisive — it exists to answer one question: is there enough here to justify investing in a full initiation? The Project Brief should answer that question, not pre-empt the initiation work.
The Purpose of Starting Up
Starting Up a Project (SU) has one purpose: to enable the Project Board to decide whether to authorise initiation. The Brief needs to be good enough to support that decision — not perfect, not comprehensive, not a substitute for the PID.
The temptation is to keep refining the Brief until it answers every question and anticipates every detail. This is Brief Mode: the state of endless iteration that delays the project without actually improving the governance decision. The detailed answers — detailed plans, full risk assessments, comprehensive Business Case — belong in the PID, which is produced during initiation.
The Test: Would It Change the Decision?
The practical test for whether a section needs more work is simple: would filling in this gap change the Project Board's decision to authorise initiation?
- If yes — the information is needed. Keep working.
- If no — note it as "to be clarified in the PID" and move on.
Most of the information that gets added to an over-engineered Project Brief falls into the second category. The Project Board doesn't need to know the exact team composition at this stage — they need to know the project is viable, the Business Case is credible, and there is an accountable Executive ready to sponsor it.
What a Good Brief Looks Like
A well-judged Project Brief is concise, clear, and honest about what is known and what is not yet known. It does not pretend to certainty that doesn't exist — it documents the level of understanding reached through Starting Up, and identifies where the initiation work needs to focus.
A Brief that has captured the key decisions and acknowledged the open questions is ready for presentation. If the Project Board has concerns about the open questions, those concerns will define the initiation work — which is exactly the right outcome.
See PRINCE2 Project Brief Template for the six components a Project Brief should cover — and the common pitfalls to avoid.