One essential point many people tend to forget in the briefing is:
What was the impetus of the project?
The answers to this question are very revealing and should be kept in mind at every decision throughout the project.
For instance, the team is faced with choosing between five options of design, at which it will be essential to remind the team whether the whole point of the project was to:
“catch up with the competitor”,
“fill a line gap”,
“bank on the success of its predecessor”,
“make some quick money”,
“please the stockholders”,
“create awareness of the brand’s innovativeness”
…etc
This is a valuable filter to help guide the choice at every juncture.
It also really helps keep the team focus on what they were originally charged to do, and can slip-stream the project.