A brief is not a formality before the «order» button. How precise it is decides not the speed but whether anyone picks the job up at all: contractors see dozens of orders and choose the ones where it is clear what to do and what it costs.
Below is a walk through every field of the «New development order» form: what to write, what not to, and why.
Two fields that shape everything else
Store
You choose which of your connected sites the work is for. This does not grant access — you are only naming the address of the task. Access appears later and automatically, once you accept a specific offer.
If your site is not in the list, connect it first under «My sites».
Developer
Two different scenarios here:
- A specific contractor — when you already know who you are working with. Only they see the brief.
- All developers (open brief) — everyone sees it and you choose among the offers that arrive.
An open brief gives you more options and usually a better price, but it requires you to choose. A closed one saves time when the contractor is already proven.
Request type
Six types, and the choice is not cosmetic: it immediately sets the contractor's frame of expectations.
| Type | When to choose it |
|---|---|
| Arbitrary request | The task does not fit the other categories |
| Plugin development | A separate feature is needed as a module |
| Migration to the CMS | Moving a store from another platform |
| Redesign | Changing the look without changing the logic |
| Custom development | Bespoke work on your store |
| SEO audit | Analysis rather than development |
Title
Name the task, not the wish.
| Bad | Good |
|---|---|
| «Need help» | «Migrate the store from OpenCart to Elitty» |
| «Want it better» | «Custom storefront plus a promo block with a timer» |
The title is the only thing a contractor sees in the list. If it does not say what the work is about, the order is simply scrolled past.
Task description
This is where you describe the problem, not the solution. Contractors often know a better way than the one you pictured — but only if they understand what actually hurts.
A good description answers three questions: what is wrong now, why that is a problem, and what should be there instead.
Scope
The most important field on the form. It has an editor with lists and formatting — use it: a numbered list of items is read and estimated far more accurately than a solid paragraph.
Write in checkable items. «Make it convenient» cannot be verified; «migrate products with options, converting options into variants» can.
This is also where you list what already works and must keep working. That is the most common source of conflict: the client assumes an existing feature obviously survives, and the contractor never knew about it.
Goals
One item per line: why the business needs this — «modernise the platform», «raise conversion», «extend analytics».
Goals do not duplicate the scope. Scope is what to do; goals are what for. They let the contractor propose a better route where yours is not the shortest.
Pages and sections
A list of where the changes land: home, product, category, checkout. This strongly affects the estimate — «change the product card» and «change the product card, the category and the checkout» differ threefold.
References, constraints, deadline
- References — examples of how it should look or behave. One link saves a paragraph of description.
- Constraints — what must not be done: do not touch the current design, do not break existing addresses, stay within the current hosting.
- Desired deadline — your real date. If it is hard, say so plainly: some contractors will simply pass, and it is better to learn that now.
Budget
The budget in a brief is a guide, not a price. The exact amount is named by the contractor in their offer, and you are free not to accept it.
Set an honest figure. A lowball scares off the people who would have done it well; an inflated one buys you nothing, because the price is named by the contractor anyway.
Optional add-ons
Separate items beyond the base scope — things you would like but can postpone. This shows the contractor what can move to a second phase instead of inflating the price or being silently dropped.
What happens next
- The order gets the status «placed» and appears in your list.
- Contractors send offers with a price — you get a notification.
- You accept one: the amount is held in escrow, the order moves to «in progress», the remaining offers are declined.
- After that come the order chat, milestones and acceptance. That part is covered in detail in the Academy material on ordering custom work.
What can still be changed
While the order is «placed» and no offer has been accepted, the brief is still yours. Once an offer is accepted it becomes part of the agreement: changing the scope is a negotiation with the contractor, not a form edit.
So it is better to spend ten extra minutes on the scope now than to explain «I meant something else» a week later.