Write a goal you can design against

What this lesson covers

1. 01

   Four parts of a usable goal

   A goal you can design against states the metric, the gap, the timeframe and the role that must change. If you cannot find a number the business already tracks, you are not ready to storyboard.

2. 02

   Fails, or can be designed

   Request | Verdict

   Raise awareness of our values. | Fails: no metric, no observable action.

   Reduce repeat-contact tickets 20% in two quarters by changing how tier-1 agents close cases. | Passes: metric, gap, time, role.

   All staff complete the new LMS module. | Fails: completion is an activity, not a business result.

   Cut lost-time injuries in the bottling hall from 7 to 3 this year, line operators and shift supervisors. | Passes: metric, gap, time, role.

3. 03

   Proxy metrics and honest baselines

   Three rules senior designers use. First, prefer a lagging metric the business owns (attrition, incidents) and pair it with a leading indicator you can see sooner (QA scores on the target action). Second, record the baseline and its normal variation before launch: if the number already swings 5 points month to month, a 4-point drop proves nothing. Third, write down what else is changing in the same period (a new system, a price change) so that nobody credits or blames the course for it later.

4. 04

   Rewrite it

   Improve communication between shifts. — Cut handover-related line stoppages from 9 to 4 per quarter by the end of Q2, shift supervisors on Lines 1 to 3.

   Make managers more data-driven. — Raise the share of weekly team reviews that use the sales dashboard from 30% to 80% in one quarter, branch managers.

5. 05

   Write and baseline your goal

   Rewrite the goal on your map with all four parts. Find the metric in a real system, record last quarter's value and its normal month-to-month range, and note one other change happening in the same period.