The open library
Tools and research
for your next decision.
Prepare a brief, compare options or check the evidence. Free working tools and reading notes, without an account.
Tools and worksheets
8Fill in a working copy or download a blank template.
- Delivery
Project brief template
Write the question, required inputs, deliverable and acceptance criteria before commissioning a project.
- Operations
Carrier cost calculator
Compare two carrier offers for the same workload. Calculate total costs and the point at which their cost ranking changes.
- Strategy
Company research worksheet
Record a company claim, its original source and the checks needed before relying on it.
- Customer research
Audience & campaign review worksheet
Define an audience, review campaign assumptions and plan a customer conversation, with relevant source notes.
- Strategy
Business problem worksheet
Describe a recent case, its consequences and the evidence needed to test a response.
- Client development
B2B buyer interview worksheet
Understand a business buyer’s last purchase, objections and process for approving a paid trial.
- AI and work
Manual and AI work comparison
Compare the same task, including errors, review time and the cost of corrections.
- Delivery
Pilot review worksheet
Record what was delivered, whether it was used and what the next review needs to establish.
Worked examples
6Traceable calculations and reconstructed analytical methods. Browse the illustrated work samples and PDFs.
- Operations
When the cheaper carrier stops being cheaper
Follow two fictional offers on the same shipment mix. Check which additional costs and service conditions could change the decision.
- Operations
What higher fuel costs do to a route
Compare three fictional routes. Change fuel costs and inspect contribution after wages and fuel, with the missing costs stated.
- Research
Which market gets the next budget?
Compare room for growth with margin, operating complexity and how much you can trust the data.
- Research
A signal is not yet an opportunity.
News about a company may raise a business question. Its need, budget and the right person still need checking.
- Research
Who is worth approaching.
For a cross-border service, the details matter: who employs the person, where the work happens and what needs to change.
- Research
One metric. Two answers.
Five on-time responses can mean 71.4% or 62.5%. The difference is how you count the missing timestamp.
Research notes
22Original publications, with B&F annotations and evidence limits.
- Strategy
The New Business Road Test, fifth edition: Chapter 1 — Our opportunity: why will or won’t this work?
Which assumption about the buyer, economics or team could make this service fail?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Strategy
Unlocking SME productivity: Review of recent evidence and implications for the UK's Industrial Strategy
Is the next constraint better technology, clearer management routines or something else?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Strategy
The Customer-Funded Business: Start, Finance, or Grow Your Company with Your Customers’ Cash — public sample and About the Research
When does cash arrive, what must we deliver for it, and is the work still profitable?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Strategy
Specialization, Firms, and Markets: The Division of Labor within and between Law Firms
Which expertise belongs inside the team, and which can be coordinated reliably outside it?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Client development
Does subsidising business advice improve firm performance? Evidence from a large RCT
How can we tell whether business advice creates a lasting operational change?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Client development
Managerial input and firm performance. Evidence from a policy experiment
Which missing capability would outside advice add, and when could its effect realistically become visible?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Strategy
A basic theory of inheritance: How bad practice prevails
Are we adopting this practice because it works, or because successful firms appear to use it?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Operations
Expertise utilization in project teams: A status-based account of process and performance
Whose knowledge of this client is missing from the decision, even though we know they have it?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Operations
Do well managed firms make better forecasts?
Are our forecasts improving, or are we only becoming more confident?
Original source — opens in a new tab - AI and work
The Cybernetic Teammate: a field experiment on generative AI reshaping teamwork and expertise
When can AI help one person work across commercial and technical perspectives?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Operations
How forced intervention facilitates AI adoption
Are we testing the tool on a fair set of cases?
Original source — opens in a new tab - AI and work
The need for absorptive capacity alleviates the free-rider problem in knowledge production
How do we keep expertise while sharing answers?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Strategy
The Hidden Architecture of Effective Groups
Does the team have the structure the task needs?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Client development
Unleash the power of your networks
Which relationship deserves attention because there is a relevant problem we can help someone understand?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Strategy
A Disciplined Process to See, Solve and Scale
Have you seen the problem before proposing the solution?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Client development
Best Practices for Customer Discovery
Whose problem is urgent, who decides and pays, and what have they already tried?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Client development
Opportunity Cost Neglect
What else could the client do with the money committed to this project?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Operations
Idea Generation and the Quality of the Best Idea
Are we generating distinct options, and what outside evidence helps us choose among them?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Operations
When Does Advice Impact Startup Performance?
What operating habit will actually change after the advice?
Original source — opens in a new tab - Operations
DeepStock: Reinforcement Learning with Policy Regularizations for Inventory Management
Which operational rule and baseline must a model improve before it is worth maintaining?
Original source — opens in a new tab - AI and work
AI Agents That Matter
Does the more elaborate agent earn its extra cost?
Original source — opens in a new tab - AI and work
Agentic AI and Human-in-the-Loop Interventions: Field Experimental Evidence from Alibaba's Customer Service Operations
When should a human take over, and what will show whether recovery worked?
Original source — opens in a new tab
No matching entries
Try a broader term, another topic or .
About this library
Brief & Field writes the tools, worked examples and reading notes. A tool is a working aid, not a validated assessment. A model example uses invented inputs; it is not a client reference, measured saving or empirical research.
Reading notes discuss publications by the stated authors, not research conducted by B&F. Each note identifies the original source, version, passages examined and limits of the evidence. A note is not a substitute for the original publication.
No university or author endorses Brief & Field. Reuse our original work with attribution; third-party publications remain with their authors and publishers and have their own terms.
Need help with your own case? See services and fees, or discuss your brief.