A brief—whether it takes the form of a project brief, a creative brief, a request for proposal (RFP), a job posting, or something else—is not the truth.
A brief is merely one possible direction to explore.
Too often, we reject brilliant ideas, options, and candidates because they’re “not on brief.” In other words, they explore the problem in a different way than we had considered and being wedded to our way and the sanctity of our process matters more than making the best decision.
If you’re presented with a brilliant idea, option, or candidate that’s not on brief, before you reject them consider if it makes sense to amend the brief. And if you do choose to amend the brief, be transparent about it.
