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When creating software, designers and developers are (hopefully) aware of what tasks it must achieve. For example: an insurance company needs software for employees to process application forms. Digging further may reveal the why from the business perspective. Perhaps the forms are being individually reviewed to spot errors.

It’s clear that having an understanding of tasks and the underlying business objectives is essential to designing useful software. However, we rarely take into account another factor: the real goals of the end user.

Understanding user goals

On the surface it seems that the end user’s goals are the same as the business. Doesn’t contributing to the company’s success directly benefit the employee? Theoretically, yes; but of course it’s not quite so simple.

To the employee, the goal is not necessarily to do their jobs better and help the company. They may be driven by many underlying goals: appearing competent to superiors, enjoying the task at hand, feeling productive, solving problems, helping others, etc.

Although the user’s goals may not be in direct conflict with the business goals, software that doesn’t address them directly is likely to fail. A leading cause of failed software projects is rejection by the end user.

Identifying user goals

How do we discover the end user’s goals so that we may address them in the software? Here are some starting points to consider:

1. Psychology. As diverse as users may be they are — with rare exceptions — human. A basic understanding of psychology goes a long way toward discovering their true motivations.
2. Spend time with real users. Don’t make assumptions about their jobs, goals, or work habits. What tasks do they seem to pay the most attention to? Keep an eye out for signs of frustration which likely signal failure to meet personal goals.
3. Business structure. In large organizations it’s common for employees on impressing their manager more than anything. How can the software contribute to this?
4. Politics. This can create environments where employees must compete to get ahead, yet can’t give the impression that they are trying too hard. Will publicly ranking everyone’s performance help if being the “winner” generates enemies?
5. Discomfort and boredom. Efficiency is great but how will a user feel about completing the same form all day long? Although the previous 3 forms took longer it wasn’t nearly as brain numbing. People are not computers and yet software frequently treats them as such.

I’d like to hear some feedback on other ways to identify and address user goals. Do you have any examples from real life (software you’ve developed or used) to share? Post a comment below!