[Product development & quality]() / [Use cases]() / [Customer briefs]() [How it works]() [What you get]() [Scope]() [Start a review]() [Product development & quality]()[Briefs]() # Turn customer evidence into product briefs worth testing. Briefs written from what customers said, with the sources attached and the open questions still open. [Start with a development review]() [How it works]() Brief FJ-214-B01 Canvas field jacket · week 1 A field jacket that survives a home wash. Why 41 “machine washable?” questions and wash-related returns Target Machine washable on cold, fit unchanged Sources Questions, returns and reviews, linked Open Which canvas weight survives a wash? Not in scope Waterproof The brief the product team starts from, with every line traced to what customers said. ## Sound familiar? - Reviews say one thing and the roadmap says another. - The brief says “more durable” and the factory has to guess what that means. - The returns that started the idea are in a spreadsheet nobody can find. A vague brief turns the first sample into a guess. Every wrong guess costs a round, and the weeks that come with it. ## What changes. ShowTodayWith the engine Evidence Reviews skimmed, returns forgotten Reviews, returns and support grouped by problem, with counts Targets “Make it more durable” A target the factory can test, like a home wash on cold Sources In the brief writer’s head Linked on every line of the brief Open questions Found in the second sample round Listed in the brief, each with an owner ## How it works. 5 steps, 4 stages. - AI**2** - Rules and automation**2** - Your team**1** - Approval 1. 1 Gather 1. Rules and automation ### Pull the evidence Reviews, returns and support tickets for the product family, with order and variant ids. - Shopify - Gorgias 2. 2 Group 1. AI ### Group by problem Counts what people asked and why they returned, and keeps their own words. 3. 3 Draft 1. AI ### Draft the brief Target, sources and open questions on one page. Claims you can’t support yet stay out. 2. Rules and automation ### Number the brief and its sources A brief id, links to the evidence, and the product record it belongs to. - Techpacker - FlexPLM - Centric PLM 4. 4 Decide 1. Your team Approval ### Choose what to make Your product lead sets the target and decides which questions need a test before a sample. Complaints after launch feed the next brief ## What you get. Real work, every week. Customer questions · field jackets Question Asked In the brief Machine washable? 41 The target True to size? 27 Check at fit Waterproof? 19 Out of scope Counted across reviews, returns and support tickets What customers asked, with the number behind each and where it goes in the brief. Open questions · FJ-214-B01 - Which canvas weight survives a wash?Mill and wash lab **2 weights**Test first - Does the fit change after washing?Patternmaker, at the first sample **Week 3**Check at fit - Can we say “machine washable”?Only once the lab report is in **Held**Not yet The questions the brief leaves open, each with who answers it and when. ## How you’ll know it’s working. 1. Days from evidence to an accepted brief How long a customer problem waits before anyone can test it. 2. Clarification requests per brief Each question from the factory or the studio is something the brief left out. 3. Share of briefs with a source on every claim A brief nobody can trace is a guess with a template. Baselines agreed before we build. ## Works with what you have. Commerce - Shopify Support - Gorgias PLM & specs - Techpacker - FlexPLM - Centric PLM We configure first Your PLM or tech-pack tool already holds the product record. We start there and connect the evidence to it. We build when Reviews, returns and support questions sit in different places and nobody joins them to a product. ## What a first build includes. Built in your accounts, around your team. Scope, fee and baseline agreed before we start. 1. 1 Design 2. 2 Build 3. 3 Run it, or hand it over [Start with a review]() [Scope this build]() ### We build - A weekly evidence feed grouped by problem - A brief template with targets, sources and open questions - Links from each brief to its product record - A shortlist of questions to test before a sample ### We start from - Reviews, returns and support history - Past briefs and sample notes - Access to your PLM or tech-pack tool ### From your team Owner Product director or category GM Involves - Product development - Merchandising - Customer service - Design ## Questions teams ask. Does AI write better briefs? In a randomized field experiment at Procter & Gamble (Organization Science, 2026), AI raised the quality of concept proposals by about 0.37 standard deviations, though the ideas grew more alike. It measured proposals, not launches. So a person chooses the direction, and we compare against how you write briefs today. Does this decide what we make? No. It takes customer evidence as far as a brief and its first test. Range and price decisions stay with merchandising. Who owns it once it’s running? You do. It’s built in your accounts, documented, with training for the people who run it. Ownership usually sits with your product director or category GM. We can keep running it with you, or step back. How do we start? Usually with a development review: two to four weeks, a fixed fee credited to the build, and a plan that’s yours. If the job is already clear, we can scope the build directly. ## Part of your development engine. One of 12 use cases, in 5 parts. [See the whole development engine]() 1. [Briefs **1**]() 2. [Specs & samples **4**]() 3. [Suppliers & changes **3**]() 4. [Release **2**]() 5. [Quality loop **2**]() In briefs - **Customer briefs**You’re here Works with - [**Repeat-contact fixes**Turn repeat contacts into fixes someone owns]() - [**Development readiness**Keep samples, tests and production readiness moving]() - [**Fit revisions**Turn fit comments into the next revision]() - [**Creative testing**Turn customer evidence into creative that wins]() See it at work - [**In the canvas jacket’s twelve weeks**Week 1: forty-one people asked about a wash]() - [**Also in**Customer service & support]() ## Start the next brief from what customers said. Start with a development review. [Start with a development review]() [**Talk it through first**15 minutes]() We reply within one business day. --- Source: [https://www.thekeating.co/use-cases/customer-briefs/]() [Contact Keating & Co](mailto:nelson@thekeating.co) · [Agent guidance](https://www.thekeating.co/llms.txt)