# Case: the brief for the physics launch > Turn Leo's list of outputs into the one-page brief he will sign: a goal that names the change, two-part success criteria, an out list and assumptions you can test. - Course: [Project Management Without the Bureaucracy: Run One Project from Brief to Closure](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy.md) - Module: What a project is, and the one-page brief - Lesson 4/32, ~34 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/physics-launch-brief-case ## Four people, four lists **Alex Tutor:** Still October at Klasna, and you lead the physics launch. We've split projects from operations and goals from outputs; today it all goes onto one page Leo, the sponsor, will sign. **Leo:** Sales forwarded me this: "Families keep asking for physics before the spring exam." Classes open on 1 February 2027; the exam season won't wait. I want a brief to sign this week. **Vira:** Program side: a curriculum for the exam topics, practice sets for each topic, and eight tutors who've passed a demo lesson with me. No unvetted tutor teaches a family. **Danylo:** Platform side: a diagnostic test to place each learner, a landing page, and booking by subject. A mobile app would be nice too, but not by February. **Hanna:** And a ceiling: 600,000 UAH to build the launch, no more without a new decision. Tutor payouts after opening, 430 UAH per delivered lesson, come from operations, not this budget. **Leo:** Then the brief writes itself. I sketched it last night. > **Leo's draft** > > **Physics launch: brief (draft)** > > - **Goal:** launch Physics: curriculum, practice sets, 8 tutors, diagnostic test, landing page and booking by subject, all live by 1 February 2027. > - **Success:** everything above delivered on time and within 600,000 UAH. > - **Scope:** everything Vira and Danylo listed. > - **Owner:** the physics team. **Alex Tutor:** Before rewriting it, find what's wrong. Read it as a family would, then as whoever must refuse extra work in December. > **Exercise:** Which problems does Leo's draft brief have? Select all that apply. ## From outputs to a goal **Sofia:** So what is the goal, if not the launch itself? **Alex Tutor:** The change you launch for: families preparing for the spring exam book physics with Klasna. The curriculum, test and landing page are how you get there; they belong in scope. **Alex Tutor:** Success criteria then have two parts. Delivery: what is live by when. Outcome: what has changed afterwards, checked on a set date. > **Fact sheet: the physics plan's working numbers** > > These are the plan's own assumptions, set by Leo, Hanna and Vira in October 2026, not market benchmarks. > > - **Opening date:** 1 February 2027, fixed by the exam season. > - **Build budget ceiling:** 600,000 UAH for the curriculum, practice sets, tutor selection, the diagnostic test, the landing page and booking by subject. > - **Tutor payout:** 430 UAH per delivered lesson, Klasna's standard rate, paid from operations after opening. > - **Tutors:** at least 8 who passed a demo lesson with Vira before opening. > - **Bookings:** 120 learners booked in the first month after opening, 1–28 February 2027. > - **Packages:** the usual prepaid 8, 16 or 32 lessons. **Sofia:** So delivery is "live by 1 February, 8 vetted tutors", and outcome is "120 learners booked by 28 February"? **Alex Tutor:** Yes. Now the order: each line of a brief serves the ones above it. Start with why, end with who signs. > **Exercise:** Put the parts of the brief in the order you'd write them, top to bottom. ## Limits, assumptions and risks **Hanna:** Where does my 600,000 go: under assumptions? **Alex Tutor:** Under limits: what the project can't change by itself, like the date and your ceiling. An assumption is what we believe but haven't checked. If it's false, the plan changes. **Alex Tutor:** Quick check on Hanna's ceiling: what does it pay for? > **Exercise:** **True or false:** payouts to physics tutors for lessons delivered in February (430 UAH each) come out of the launch's 600,000 UAH ceiling. **Sofia:** Then "120 learners, 8 tutors" hides one: about 15 new learners per tutor in February. Nobody has asked the candidates. **Vira:** A risk too: my curriculum review could run late, and tutors can't prepare demo lessons on unfinished material. **Alex Tutor:** That's a risk: an event that may happen and cost us days. Name the main one or two; the full register comes later. Sort these four. > **Exercise:** Match each line from the physics plan to where it belongs in the brief. **Alex Tutor:** Do the arithmetic behind that hidden assumption. > **Exercise:** The plan wants 120 learners booked in February and at least 8 tutors. How many new learners per tutor does that quietly assume? **Alex Tutor:** And how many risks belong on that one page? > **Exercise:** **True or false:** a good one-page brief lists every risk the team can think of, so nothing is missed. ## What's out **Leo:** Chemistry has the same exam season. Put it in the brief too? Same work, twice. **Danylo:** It's a second curriculum, a second tutor pool and a second test, with the same date and the same 600,000. **Alex Tutor:** That's what the out list is for: chemistry, a mobile app, group lessons. Out doesn't mean never. It means not in this project until someone decides otherwise. **Sofia:** And if Leo still wants chemistry next month? **Alex Tutor:** Then the brief turns it into a decision: what comes out, or which limit moves. Leo decides seeing the cost, not by a line slipping in. > **Exercise:** Three weeks after Leo signs, the marketing lead asks to add a free trial physics lesson for every landing-page visitor. It isn't on the in list. What do you do? ## Assumptions you can test **Alex Tutor:** "Families want physics" is a hope. A testable assumption says what you'd see if it's true, how you'll check, and by when. **Danylo:** I can put the landing page up in December with a waiting list. That checks demand before most of the budget is spent. **Vira:** And Roman from tutor operations can ask candidates for free weekly slots when booking demo lessons. That answers the 15-learner question in November. **Alex Tutor:** If a check fails, you'll know in time to change the plan, not in February. **Alex Tutor:** Pick the check that tests demand in time. > **Exercise:** “Families want physics” is the plan's biggest bet. Which check tests it **before most of the budget is spent**? > **Exercise:** Write three assumptions for the physics brief that can be tested before January. For each one, say what you believe, how you'll check it and by what date. ## The brief Leo signs **Leo:** Send me the brief by Friday, on one page. I want to sign it without rewriting it. **Hanna:** Put my ceiling in, and say what isn't paid from it. **Vira:** And the eight tutors with a passed demo lesson, as a criterion, not a wish. **Alex Tutor:** Ten to fourteen lines: goal, two-part success criteria, in and out, limits, assumptions with checks, one owner and the sponsor. > **Exercise:** Write the one-page brief for the physics launch that Leo will sign. > **Key ideas** > > - The goal names the change (families book physics), not the outputs (curriculum, test, landing page). Outputs go into scope. > - Success criteria have two parts: delivery by 1 February 2027 with at least 8 vetted tutors, and an outcome of 120 learners booked by 28 February, checked on a set date. > - The out list (chemistry, a mobile app, group lessons) turns every later addition into a decision with a visible cost. > - Limits can't be changed by the project itself: the fixed date and the 600,000 UAH ceiling. Assumptions are beliefs with a check and a date. > - One person owns the brief; the sponsor signs it. **Alex Tutor:** First stage done: the project has a page everyone can point to. Next, we break the in list into deliverables someone can accept. - Previous lesson: [The one-page brief](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/the-one-page-brief.md) - Next lesson: [Break the work down from deliverables](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/break-the-work-down.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.