Briefs
The Brief for each level of engineering, what it covers and when it arrives.
Last updated
Every Brief in your org is written from the same facts. A Brief type changes only what it covers, the period it compares, the altitude it speaks at and the words it may assume. Two Briefs that mention the same thing cite the same facts, so they never contradict each other.
Types
| Brief | Covers | Period and default timing | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | A team, or chosen repos | Your system as it is today | |
| Engineering Manager | A team's repos | Weekly, Monday 07:00 UTC | About two screens |
| VP or Director | A team and the teams under it | Weekly, Wednesday | One page |
| CTO or CEO | The whole org | Monthly | One page |
| Product Manager | Up to 20 initiatives from your tracker | Weekly | One to two screens |
Baseline
The system as it stands: how it is built, what it offers, what it is built with, the outside services it relies on, and what to keep an eye on (end-of-life runtimes, vulnerable dependencies). It is the reference every later Brief compares against, and the best first Brief for a new org.
Engineering Manager
How the team's part of the system evolved this week: services, interfaces, vendors, agent work, risks that need a decision, and delivery. Technical terms are allowed; code appears only on drill-down. See Read your first Brief.
VP or Director
Built from the week's EM Briefs of the teams directly under it, after their review, and from the org's facts. Where the system is moving, where the work went (new capability against upkeep, agents against people), risk and stability, decisions needed or made. Each team's findings are named with their team. It arrives on Wednesday so EM Briefs get two working days of review.
CTO or CEO
One page in business language, built from the month's reviewed VP Briefs. It opens with one governing sentence and three points, then covers what your software can now do, the direction of the platform, exposure by category, and AI in engineering. No engineering jargon: delivery appears as "time from finished work to customers", never as deploys or pull requests. It arrives after the month ends.
Product Manager
What shipped and what it means for users, progress against the plan (scope added or dropped, work outside the plan, dates at risk), and customer-facing risk. It needs a connected tracker such as Jira or Linear.
Scopes and subscriptions
A subscription is a Brief type, what it covers, its recipients and its timing. Subscriptions of the same type and scope share one Brief. Admins set the day and hour (in UTC) and the delivery: email, Slack direct messages or a Slack channel post. A new subscription waits for its first scheduled time; Send Brief writes one now for the last closed period.
What every Brief shares
- Answer first. A headline that states a conclusion, then the highest-impact points.
- Evidence. Every number and claim traces to facts; a model never invents a number or a chart.
- Key terms. Every name a reader may not know is defined.
- Gaps said plainly. A missing integration hides its section and names it under "Not in this Brief yet". A Brief never fails for want of one.
- On time. Upper Briefs ship on schedule with whatever review exists by then.
By plan
Free includes Baseline and EM Briefs for a limited period. Paid and Enterprise include every Brief type.