brieflisted

# Brief > "The writer proves it worked. The reader has to dig out what matters." **A human surface is a decision interface.** It carries what becomes true, why it matters, what a person must judge, and where the evidence is. **The run record carries how you got there.** Link to it. Never paste it. ## The four questions A reader must answer these in about twenty seconds: 1. What becomes true? 2. Why does it matter? 3. What judgement or action is wanted? 4. Where should I start? If they cannot, no amount of trimming will fix it. The body is doing more than one job. ## Work brief Someone wants something. An issue. | Outcome | what should become true | | Why now | the cost, the break, or the opening | | Done when | checks a person can watch fail | | Not this | one exclusion, only when it saves a wrong turn | | Open | what genuinely blocks or changes the work | A **defect** adds what happens, what should, and the smallest way to see it. An **idea** adds who it would affect and what is still unknown. ## Change brief A candidate wants a decision. A pull request body. | Outcome | what this makes true, and why | | Review | the judgement wanted, and where to look first | | Change | one to three conceptual changes. Never a file tour | | Evidence | results, bound to the final candidate | | Limits | a risk or gap that is not obvious. Omit it rather than write *none* | **Write it after the candidate is final**, and check each sentence against the diff. A body written early d