How to Communicate With Developers for a Job Brief: A Guide for Online Store Owners

Illustration of a clipboard holding a job brief checklist with Goal, Where, Examples, Done when and Deadline, two chat bubbles, and a laptop showing theme code

Updated September 2026

Hiring a developer for your store is exciting. You're about to add something your store couldn't do before. But developers think about work differently from store owners and designers, and most projects that go wrong do so at the very start, in the brief. The clearer your brief, the faster and more accurately a developer can deliver, and the fewer surprises you'll get on the invoice.

A good developer will also point out problems with the solution you asked for and suggest better ones you hadn't thought of. That only happens when they understand what you're trying to achieve. Here's how to write a brief that gets you there.

What to put in a job brief

Keep it to one page and one job. This is what a good one covers:

A one-page developer job brief with seven parts: the goal, where on the store, what it does now and what you want instead, examples, devices to test on, how you will know it is done, and the deadline and budget. ONE PAGE · ONE JOB Job brief: size guide GOAL Why you want it More add-to-carts on mobile WHERE Page and section Product page, below the price NOW / WANTED What changes Size guide link → pop-up chart EXAMPLES Screenshots, links 2 stores that do it well DEVICES Where to test iPhone, Android, desktop DONE WHEN How you'll check Opens on tap, closes on X TIMING Deadline, budget Before the Oct 15 launch
A one-page brief for one change. Each part answers a question the developer would otherwise have to ask you.
  • The goal. Why you want the change, in business terms. "More mobile shoppers add to cart" tells a developer far more than "add a button".
  • Where. The exact page, template and section. Include links.
  • What happens now, and what you want instead. Describe both. It's often the gap between them that reveals the real task.
  • Examples. Screenshots, screen recordings and links to stores that do it well. A 30-second video of the problem beats three paragraphs.
  • Devices. Which phones, browsers and screen sizes matter to your customers.
  • Done when. How you'll check it works. "The size chart opens on tap and closes with the X on iPhone and Android" can be tested; "looks nice" can't.
  • Timing and budget. A deadline if there's a real one (a launch, a sale), and the budget range you have in mind.

One job per brief

Don't bundle unrelated requests into one brief. If you're asking for a homepage change, don't slip in product page tweaks unless they're genuinely tiny. Separate briefs are easier to quote, easier to test and easier to release one at a time, and if one piece gets stuck, the others don't wait for it.

Build in steps, not all at once

Many store owners picture development like building a house: nothing is usable until everything is finished. Store development works better the other way round. Plan changes in small pieces, release each one when it's ready, and learn from how customers use it before you plan the next. You get value sooner, and a problem in one change doesn't hold up the rest.

Simple requests and open-ended ones

When an experienced developer reads your brief, the first thing they work out is whether it's a simple request with one obvious solution, or an open-ended one with several possible approaches. Open-ended requests almost always need more back-and-forth after the first delivery.

When we get an open-ended request, we put together a short list of possible solutions and their trade-offs before anyone writes code. Open-ended work carries more risk: more room for bugs, and more chance that customers use the result in ways nobody expected. Where a well-known, proven approach exists, such as a built-in Shopify feature or a reliable app, it's usually the safer choice. Our guide to apps, custom code or something in between helps you decide.

If your plan is a store that's custom from top to bottom, consider hiring developers full time. Agencies and freelancers are great for defined projects; an ongoing custom build benefits from people who live in your codebase every day.

Give access the safe way

Never share your own Shopify login. Instead, have the developer request a collaborator account through their Shopify Partner account. You control what they can access, collaborator accounts don't count toward your plan's user limit, and Partners need two-step authentication to use one. You can require a collaborator request code so that only people you've shared it with can ask for access; you'll find the code and pending requests under Settings → Users. When the work is done, remove the access.

Worth knowingAsk the developer to work on a duplicate of your live theme, not the published one. You can preview their changes safely and publish when you've checked them.

Plan first, then brief

The single most useful thing you can do before hiring help is to plan. Break big ideas into small changes, write a clear brief for each, and give yourself time to review. An hour of planning saves days of rework. And plan for what comes after: custom code needs looking after as Shopify changes, which is part of the actual cost of maintaining an ecommerce website.

If you're weighing a bigger project, our guide to going beyond the basics explains what you can do yourself first. And if you'd like us to look at a brief, or write one with you, get in touch.