Exercise: Users, Objects and Goals

Overview of Users, Objects and Goals Exercise:
Most organizations are able to provide some level of detail on the organizational goals, but rarely are the value for and needs of the target audience well defined. This exercise gives me insight into the different requirements of internal and external stakeholders/users and actually creates a checklist at a very detailed level for a feature review/requirements assessment.  All from the point of view of the end audience.

What It Doesn't Do:

This won't replace audience insight or deeper investigations into the needs of the user.  It relies very heavily on the current understanding of the end audience existing within the organization.  So insight will be dependent on what is already known or understood.  I would not overlook the value of this exercise, however, as It is a great starting point for organizations not used to generating insight or understanding from the point-of-view of their audiences.

When To Use:
I've found this a very effective method of kicking off any digital project where there has not been much focus on the user defined goals or requirements.  I use it to start bringing the focus back to the users and to begin creating a lexicon or foundation for user goals/needs/insights.  It's also a great back-pocket exercise as it can be done with nothing more than a whiteboard and a camera of some sort (cellphone).

Required Inputs:
The requirements for this exercise are quite light:

• Wall or Whiteboard
• Team of people working to build/launch something
• Minimum of an hour

Recommended:

• 2-4 hours
• Stickies or Cards
• Markers for everyone
• Tape or tacks
• Camera or Camera phone for capturing artifacts

Structure:
The process I use is dependent on how much time is available to me.  So I will present a stab at a 1 hour version and then potential 3 hour variations.  I'm assuming you have a whiteboard, a blank wall, and stickies and pens for all present.

If you have 1 Hour:

• Distribute Stickies and Pens
• Present the "Rule"
  • "When something strikes you, Say it; Write it; and Place it (on the wall)".
  • If stickies come up too detailed, then I question them and potentially get them re-written
  • If stickies come up too vague, then I question them to understand what is meant
• Define the "audience/users"
  • I just ask simple questions, such as "Who will be affected?  Who are we searching for?"
  • NOTE: On the first one, everyone is a little cold so I generally wait for someone to say something and then remind them of the rule if they don't write it down and place it on the board.
  • I question each audience as it is presented to ensure I understand and also to open up the dialogue at the table on just who the audience is
    • Areas to explore:  Who is supported?  Who is not?  Who is of primary importance?  Who would we NOT expect to ever visit/reach?
• Define the "user goals"
  • Re-iterate rule.  "When something comes to you, Say it; Write it; Place it (on the wall)".
  • It can also help to provide guidance on how to write user goals
    • "Assistance" is too brief.
    • "Get help with what to click next before continuing" is too detailed.
    • It should be clear, complete and easy to read from a distance on a rectangular sticky.  ie:  "Learn more about product" or "Download the demo"
  • Some questions always help get things started and to keep things moving.  But go with your gut here and keep asking and generate as many answers as time allows.
    
    • Take one of the key audiences and ask what some of their goals are on the very first time they visit. "They've never been here before.  What are the looking to accomplish? What questions do they have?"
    • What about on a repeat visit?
    • What about people that join/purchase/buy?  What are their goals or questions on a return visit?  ("Why are they coming back?" is a good prod here.)
  • NOTE:  As a facilitator, the first request is often the most challenging.  Hold your ground and don't falter.  Ask the question and wait.  I've waited as long as 2 minutes.  This doesn't sound like much but it can seem like eternity on the day.
  • IMPORTANT:  Invariably, someone will raise a user goal that will be met with derision or vetoed by someone else on the team.  Record this goal as you would any other and explain that while it may not be something we want to support, it is a goal a user will have.  So we should ensure we address it - perhaps through education or explaining to users why it can't be supported at this time.
• Sort and Label
  • This is rarely a part of the one hour exercise.  There generally isn't time.  I've done some speed sorting as a starting point for my work after the session.  To do this, ask two volunteers to come up and short them into columns with the groups help.  You can take a stab at labeling and re-organizing later.
• Explore the Objects
  
  • This is not a part of the one hour exercise.  In the short version, I generally take a first stab at this after the fact and make it part of the next workshop/review process.
  • What are the "objects" or "things" required to enable the identified user goals?
  • What is in-scope and out-of-scope for this leg of the engagement?
  • The goals are then broken down by major objects in the system.  See the examples below.

If You Have 3 Hours:

• Same Process as 1 hour with the following exceptions
• Present the "Rule"
  • Same as 1 hour
• Define the "Audience"
  • Same as 1 hour (define the potential audiences)
  • Now build personas (emergent)
    
    • Break the team into groups of 3-4 and have each team blow out a different persona.
    • I tend to use Dave Gray from Xplane's model of giving each persona a name, capturing basic information about them and then what they are Seeing, Hearing, Thinking, Feeling and Doing.  I love doing it via a sketch as it really helps people get into the persona's shoes without realizing it.
    • Have each team present back to the entire group.
• Define the "User Goals"
  • Same as 1 hour
  • Dig deeper and ask more questions
    • First visit versus repeat visits
    • Walk through each persona and audience.  What is different for them?  Where do they not fit?
    • What about users that never "join", "sign-up" or "purchase": why do they keep coming back?
  • Keep pushing until you have filled the wall.  Once you have run out of steam, I recommend taking a brief break before continuing.
  • Standard Sort & Label
    
    • Ask the group to begin to sort the labels into columns
      • If this is done quickly and in an orderly fashion, then as facilitator I recommend playing a strong "Devil's Advocate" role and start questioning the sorting, whether items belong
      • Once it descends into discussion and debate, then the process is working and just answer questions.
    • Label
    • I usually give out some different stickies (size/colour) when things seem to be coming together on the sorting front
    • Ask that the team come up with labels for each column or grouping of user goals
    • If this is going well, it will often lead to a re-categorization of some goals.  If it is over too fast, question the labels to ensure they represent what is listed beneath them.
• Explore the Objects (if time)
  
  • Review the category lables for the user goals
  • What major "things" have to be built to support users in each area?
  • I generally start by capturing "Home Page" if it's a website and then pull another example out to get things started
    • For example, if "Become a member" was identified as a goal, then a "login mechanism" would be a potential object needed.  It might also require a "profile page", etc.

Lo-Fi it Up:
This is a great exercise to pull out of ones back pocket on any engagement with no forewarning.  I've done it with no briefing and nothing more than a whiteboard and my phone camera.  Start with defining the people who we are interacting with and then launch into goals.  As you finish each part: snap a photo, erase and continue.

Tools & Templates:
There are a number of artifacts created directly from the workshop in the form of photos, flip charts, etc.  Here I present the artifacts I would generally go away and create after the session. I am providing them in PDF for quick review as well as in usable template form.  I hope that they prove useful as starting points for how you might implement or use this tool.

Templates:

• usergoals_bypage_workshop.key.zip (Mac keynote, ZIP compressed, 340K)
• usergoals_bypage_workshop.pdf (PDF, 376K)

I've found the template above helpful in that they become checklists for any creative ideas or prototypes that emerge.  They allow me to capture what is directly supported in each area and what is indirectly supported elsewhere (with clues/guidance to the user on where/how to accomplish each goal not directly supported.)

[UPDATE: Links fixed]

License:

All parts of this post/toolset are released with a creative commons license. This means you are free to use and modify the items presented, but you must offer what you create back to the community under the same license.

I look forward to any comments or feedback.

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Users, Goals and Objects Workshop by Sean Howard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.
Based on a work at www.seanhoward.ca.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.seanhoward.ca/seanhoward/contact-sean.html.

Comments

[Renee]

Impressive. Although I'd say you're selling yourself short in your 'When to Use' section - it could be applied more broadly than just digital projects :)

[Sean Howard]

Thanks Renee. Great point. I could see this being easily used/adapted for non-digital projects/engagements.

I think part of my decision to position it as a digital exercise was because I was lazy and got tired of having to put other examples or disclaimers next to each digital example/comment. ;)