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Throughout my adult and formative years I have set myself a number of goals as I've progressed. As human beings goals can be incredibly powerful to our psyche whether long term goals such as career prospects or short term such as getting home at night they play a powerful role in our life.

As software developers the realization of goals is the most powerful tool in our arsenal. And the realization that Goals matter beyond most other aspects gives a new freedom and purpose to the software we write. A lot of our concerns become superfluous once we start focusing on specific goals of the users. Alan Cooper popularized this with his Goal-Directed Design in books such as The Inmates are running the asylum and About Face (both of which I advise a read of)

"User goals serve as a lens through which designers must consider the functions of a product."

Other techniques are also at our disposal to help ratify goals. For example I view Behavior/Test Driven Development as Goal orientated design in the small. Each test defining a small part of the users goal, and introducing the specification for a software goal (which IMHO is also a goal worth considering)

Goals must become the first and only true test of a products and functions merit, without ratifying against concrete goals we are chasing an elusive deam and doing no better than sticking our finger in the wind.

Luckily we and the user are chasing the same goals, we are on the same side.

Tags: Goal Directed Design, TDD, BDD, Goals