Drafting Goals

Assistance in Defining Customer, Value, and Future State with Tips & Examples

This page is intended to support you during the drafting process with tips and examples. Overall, having a conversation about who the customer, the specific value, and the desired future state for your main Goals are helps you align within your team and better communicate and coordinate your Goals with others.

Customer

Describe as concretely and precisely as possible who your customer is - i.e., who benefits when you achieve this Goal.

Questions to help define the Customer:

• Who has the problem described above?
• Who does it help when this Goal is achieved?
• Is your customer external, e.g., an end user?
• Or is your customer internal, e.g., other teams, colleagues, or stakeholders from another unit?

Note: Your own team can also be the customer of your Goal.

Examples:

• "All end users of our mobile app"
• "All stakeholders of the finance unit"
• "All internal employees who travel a lot"
• "Our team"

Value

Describe the value-added you want to create for your customers. Make sure to formulate the value not as tasks or concrete solutions, but as the resulting benefit for the customer.

Questions to help define the Value:

• What specific benefit or value do you want to create for your customers?
• Put yourself in your customer's shoes. How would they describe the value?
• Imagine your customer reading the value you have formulated. Would they understand it?
• What value can you demonstrably achieve in this cycle?
• What value can you directly influence, i.e., it is not dependent on third parties?
• Does the value address the topics of the Drafting Inputs?

Note: One Goal may and in fact often does include several values.

Examples:

• "acquiring new customers is more affordable and higher quality"
• "the process for reimbursement of travel expenses is faster, simpler, and more mobile-friendly"
• "processing customer inquiries is more automated and less error-prone"

Future State

Describe what the future for your customer will ideally look like.

Questions to help define the Future State:

• What is the end result for the customer when they experience the value in the future?
• What is the result or economic benefit of the value for the customer?
• What benefits ("Business Impact") does your team or organization have as a result?

Examples:

• "employees are more satisfied"
• "lower costs for the process"
• "greater growth"