Define goals
We define goals to set the groundwork for the rest of the project, and to gain consensus on what we are working to achieve.
- Business goals show what the business is hoping to achieve from the site or application
- User goals show what users are hoping to achieve when using the site or application
- Usability goals show how the new design will implement a balance between business and user goals.
What we do
Before we begin to design your site or application, we identify business and usability goals. They show how users will interact with the site and what’s most important to them. We use stakeholder interviews, the results of user evaluations, your background information and our field studies to inform the business goals.
The business goals and usability goals are usually linked, though some usability goals may come purely from the results of user evaluations.
For example, if one business goal is to triple the number of people who buy on your web site, then the related usability goal would be to make the first order quick and easy.
Business goals make an enormous difference to how we approach the design. For instance, if a business goal is to minimise the number of people who contact your call centre for help, it’s likely to be a very different design project from one where a key business goal is to increase revenue from the site.
Usability goals describe how the design will achieve outcomes for the users that will support your business goals and the users’ goals.
- Business goals allow us to gain a shared understanding of the project outcomes, so all stakeholders can understand what the new design will deliver
- User goals allow us to feed users’ tasks, attitudes, feelings and high-level goals into the design, and to give your stakeholders an evidence-based view of what the site or application’s users really need and want
- Usability goals set out how the design must function in order to support the business and user goals, allowing everyone involved to agree on what “easy to use” means in the context of your project.
Real-life example
The following are some of the goals developed in a corporate intranet project:
Business goals
- Reduce cost to business by making staff more productive and improve focus on core tasks
- Ensure that the central administrative sections of the organisation can disseminate organisation-wide information effectively
- Provide specialised and tailored content for specific key groups within the organisation
- Ensure control and corporate risk management is maintained
- Ensure information for local conditions and policies is consistent and specific
- Ensure the employees feel valued, promote the employee value proposition.
User goals
- Make it easy for me to find out how to do something
- Keep me informed – what’s going on?
- Make the information understandable and relevant to my situation
- Help me feel supported and trusted and part of the organisation
- Help me publish information easily
- Reduce my frustration
- Help me feel connected and valued.
Usability goals
- Ensure staff can quickly find, identify and get access to the information they require
- Make it easy for staff to find out who to contact about what
- Create a sense of the intranet as the central point of contact for the corporate structure. Ensure administrative questions are answered by promoting centralised functions and information
- Ensure employees are kept up-to-date, that important information is easy to access and that important messages are easily available
- Ensure employees get additional value from the site, that it brings them closer to the organisation
- Support key common tasks and the people who perform specific administrative roles
- Support the employee value proposition and external brand image
- Provide a framework to help structure the content to suit the customer not the supplying division.
