The Research Brief Pattern

A research brief is a structured prompt that tells Claude exactly what you need, how deep to go, and what format to deliver in. It has five components: Objective, Scope, Constraints, Format, and Quality Criteria.

Think of it like a project brief you'd hand to a junior analyst. The more specific you are upfront, the less back-and-forth you need. The brief eliminates ambiguity before Claude starts working.

1. Objective What question are you answering? Be specific: "Identify the top 5 competitors in vertical SaaS for construction" not "research construction software."
2. Scope What's in bounds and what's out? Time period, geography, company size, market segment. Explicit boundaries prevent scope creep.
3. Constraints What limitations apply? "Only publicly available data," "focus on companies with $10M+ ARR," "exclude Asia-Pacific markets."
4. Format How should the output be structured? Table, executive summary, SWOT analysis, ranked list with scoring criteria.
5. Quality Criteria How will you evaluate the result? "Each competitor must include funding data, market share estimate, and key differentiator."

## Research Brief

**Objective:** Identify and rank the top 5 vertical SaaS competitors
in the construction management space.

**Scope:** North American market, Series B+ companies, 2024-2026.

**Constraints:** Publicly available data only. Exclude horizontal
project management tools (Asana, Monday).

**Format:** Ranked table with columns: Company, Funding, Est. ARR,
Key Differentiator, Threat Level (1-5).

**Quality:** Each entry must cite at least one source. Include a
2-sentence rationale for the threat-level score.