Understanding design goals

Method 1: Design hypotheses

What

A design hypothesis focuses your work and attention on the intended goals and outcomes. It frames your work as a hypothesis to explore.

Why

When done collaboratively, you can use hypothesis-building to get your team on the same page about what you are doing and why. This approach helps think about your work as a series of experiments you do with your users to learn if you are on the right path. For example, ask: "Did we make it easier and simpler for our customers to buy from us?" instead of "Did we ship the shopping cart feature?"

It also allows your team to be flexible. If one approach does not result in the outcome you expected, you can change course and try something else.

How to do it

1. As a team, identify and define the problem you are trying to solve. What goals or needs are not being met? What measurable criteria would show progress toward these goals?
2. As a team, write out the hypothesis for the work you want to do to address the problem you are trying to solve. You may want to write broad hypotheses at the start of a project and more specific hypotheses each sprint.

Here is a common way to structure your hypothesis:

We believe that doing/building/creating [this feature] for [this user] will result in [this outcome]. We will know we are right when we see [this metric/outcome].

3. Once you have formulated your hypothesis, consider the following prompt. This can help you and your team think about and guard against any potential unintended, harmful consequences of your work.

But, this could be harmful for [this user] if [this consequence happens].

4. Identify a place where users interact with your product, and use this place to test your hypothesis. This place could be on a website’s homepage, social media, email, search engine, or other digital channel.
5. Test your hypothesis. If you learn something unexpected, refine your hypothesis and test again. Continue to work incrementally towards your goals.

Time required

1 to 2 hours

Method 2: Design principles

What

A design principle is a written statement, generally in the form of directives like "Earn people's trust" and "Embrace accessibility."

Why

Design principles give you and your team and stakeholders a shared point of reference when negotiating next steps. Good design principles are specific to the project, not general truths. You can use them to evaluate options and approaches.

How to do it

1. Gather terms or concepts that seem significant to project goals and organizational culture. These terms or concepts may come from kickoff activities, internal documents, or other sources.
2. Use existing research to list terms or concepts that seem particularly important to your customers or user types.
3. Cluster similar terms and concepts together on a physical or virtual whiteboard or other space open to everyone who is working on the project. Name the groups.
4. Ask the team and stakeholders if they would like to add, change, or edit any terms, concepts, or groups.
5. From the groups on the board, create three to five final principles. Write one to two sentences in support of each principle using evidence from your research.
6. Share the principles in a place accessible to the team throughout the project. Refer to them often while making decisions.