Write the brief before anyone writes a proposal.
Answer a guided set of questions, check the symptoms you are actually seeing, and assess the learning culture. The studio turns all of it into one detailed briefing document — an invitation to submit ideas that every partner answers on the same terms.
Free forever. No cost, no licence, no credit card. Your briefs and client details stay private to you.
The process
Four tides, one brief.
Work through it alone, or share a link with a client or colleague so they can complete the briefing questions with you.
Frame the Brief
49 guided questions across ten sections — context, need, objectives, people, scope, history and logistics. Attach supporting documents and the studio summarises them for you.
Assess the Learning Culture
A 34-question assessment scored out of 140 with interpretation bands, drawing on Marcia Conner's learning culture audit and Taylor Newberry's tool. Available by request.
Request accessPublish the Brief
Everything collates into a Tidal-branded detailed briefing document, ready to download as Word and send out as an invitation to submit ideas.
Build the proposal
Turn the brief into phased steps and a schedule of fees. Coming soon.
Ten sections
The questions that make a brief usable
- 1Client & project basics
- 2Strategic context
- 3The development need
- 4Symptom diagnostic
- 5Learning culture
- 6Objectives & success
- 7The people involved
- 8Scope & history
- 9Logistics & practicalities
- 10Proposal submission
The first eight questions are required, so no brief leaves the studio without the basics.
Optional deep dive
Leadership & team diagnostic
Tick the symptoms you actually see in the target audience named in step 1. They group into eight root-cause domains, each surfacing the capabilities that need developing — described as a development need, never a prescribed solution.
- 45-item symptom checklist
- Eight root-cause domains with signals and citations
- Capability chips instead of off-the-shelf answers
- Target goals chosen for that audience
Fewer than five symptoms selected? The studio says there isn't enough signal yet, rather than guessing.
Scored, not guessed
A learning culture read worth quoting
Stakeholders complete the assessment through a link you share. Responses aggregate into section scores — 50, 50 and 40 points — and a total out of 140, with a plain-language interpretation of what that means for the intervention. It appears in the brief itself, so partners design for the culture they're walking into.
Interpretation bands
- 0 – 42Low priority
- 43 – 70Needs attention
- 71 – 112On the right track
- 113 – 140Strong culture
The output
One detailed briefing document
An invitation to submit ideas
Framed as an invitation, not a specification — so partners bring thinking rather than quote a shopping list.
Word download
Tidal-branded cover, headers, page numbers and every section in order, ready to email.
Share with an access code
Send a link with a six-character code. Guests can complete or just read the briefing steps; your proposal work stays private.
Start your first brief today.
Free forever — no cost, no licence, no credit card required. Sign up, answer the questions, download the document. Request access to the optional learning culture assessment whenever you need it.
Create a free account