Lesson Content

The document brief: what Claude needs before it can draft.

A document brief is not the same as a writing prompt. A brief tells Claude what the document is for, who will read it, what it needs to accomplish, what key points must be included, and what constraints apply. Without a brief, Claude produces a generic template with placeholder text – technically valid but practically useless.

Think of briefing Claude the way you would brief a writer or communications professional: give them the facts, the audience, the goal, the tone, and the constraints. They do not need to know everything – they need enough to draft specifically.

What a strong document brief includes:

• Document type: Email, report, proposal, memo, cover letter, executive summary, policy document
• Purpose: What must this document accomplish? Inform, persuade, request, update, acknowledge?
• Audience: Who will read this? What do they already know? What do they care about?
• Key content: The facts, decisions, numbers, or arguments that must be included
• Tone: Formal, direct, warm, diplomatic, authoritative, conversational
• Length: Approximate length or strict word count
• Constraints: What to avoid, what NOT to include, what format it must follow
• Call to action: What should the reader do after reading this?

Email drafting in practice.

Emails are the most frequent professional writing task. The quality difference between a vague email prompt and a briefed email prompt is dramatic.

The briefed approach:

Draft a professional email to a vendor who has missed three delivery deadlines. I need to: (1) document the pattern of missed deadlines factually, (2) state that we are placing the next order on hold pending a written commitment to a revised timeline, and (3) request a response within 48 hours.
Tone: professional and firm, not aggressive. This may become documentation in a dispute, so keep it factual and avoid emotional language.
Length: under 200 words.
Audience: the vendor's account manager, who I have a working relationship with.

Report and memo drafting.

For longer documents, give Claude the full content in outline or bullet point form and ask it to draft from that. Do not ask Claude to invent the content – give it the substance and ask it to organize, structure, and write it in the appropriate register.

This is faster, produces better output, and keeps you in control of the content while Claude handles the drafting work.