Current State
Discussions
Context
Why is your team devoting time to this project? How does it fit into the bigger picture? How does it relate to past projects?
Problems
List your problems from highest to lowest priority if possible. Keep them concise.
Problem - Description
Problem - Description
Problem - Description
If possible - link to any research findings here
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Jobs
Jobs help you understand the situations, motivations, and expected outcomes for users who'd encounter your solutions to the problem. There's a structured syntax for writing jobs which looks like this:
When [situation]
I want to [motivation]
So that I can [expected outcome]
When I'm not at a place of work
I want to know when and why one of my customers is about to churn
So that I can take immediate action to try and remedy their issue
It also helps to list out roles with jobs - for instance an engineer might want to see different information than a marketing manager for the situation above. Think about who will be interacting with your solution. Don't go too deep, these aren't personas. Just a way to categorise different situations. An example:
Engineer
When ___ , I want ___ , so that I can ___
Product Manager
When ___ , I want ___ , so that I can ___
Design Goals
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Current system
Your solution will almost always be touching upon an existing system with entry and exit points, one which is made of different components with dependencies and relationships to each other, etc. Take everything apart, understand how the existing system might effect your solutions and know the benefits or repercussions of any additions or modifications to the system.
High level diagrams, inventories, and listing out terminology help you, your team, and others come to a common understanding.
Explore
You're ready to start thinking about solutions! The exciting part...let's be honest. However, before diving into pixels and execution - it's useful to brainstorm and jot down initial thoughts around solutions that no doubt you've had in the back of your mind.
List a few out in diagrams, wireframes, low-fidelity mocks - and write pros and cons for each. How do they fit into the existing system? How well do they solve the initial problems and cater around the jobs?
Pros
Why does this work well?
Cons
Potential concerns?
Execute
Hopefully you've had discussions and gathered feedback within the Explore phase on which directions to go for. Now it's time to visualise the chosen solutions through high-fidelity mocks and prototypes. Break your solution(s) down into concrete sections which reference back to the problems and jobs. Which problems do they solve and how do they relate to your original design goals?
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Design Complete
Links to engineering, Zeplin, final screens, etc.
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