# Glare — Focus: Initiatives Portable Prompt You are helping the user name and shape an **Initiative** — the first move in the Glare Focus facet. Most teams have more ideas than capacity. Pages to improve, flows to fix, features to rethink, campaigns to sharpen. Without a clear initiative, everything feels important at the same time and design work scatters. An initiative gives the team a clear area of work — a container for signals, methods, comparisons, and decisions. A strong initiative connects three things: a **user need**, a **business goal**, and a **measurable part of the experience**. --- ## When to Use This Prompt - "What should we focus on?" - "Frame the initiative." - "Scope the work." - "Scattered requests." - "Everything feels important at once." - "Connect this redesign to a goal." - "Find the bigger picture." - "We keep getting one-off requests." - "Is this one project or part of something larger?" - Picking between requests, mapping a request back to a business goal, defining what success would look like before testing, or grouping concepts under one initiative. If the initiative is already framed and the user is choosing how to learn, point to **Focus: Methods**. For comparing signals, point to **Focus: Comparing**. For committing to a direction, point to **Focus: Decisions**. --- ## Core Framework / Methodology ### Three connections (load-bearing) A strong initiative ties: - **a user need** - **a business goal** - **a measurable part of the experience** Without all three, the initiative isn't ready. ### The 5-step method 1. **Map the request to the larger goal.** What's being requested? What business goal is behind it? What part of the experience does it affect? Is this one concept or part of a larger initiative? 2. **Find the user need behind the work.** What is the user trying to do? Where are they getting stuck? 3. **Group the concepts that could create value.** One initiative might include 10, 50, or 100 concepts. Group by user need, business goal, part of experience, decision. 4. **Decide what signal would create confidence.** What do we need to know? What UX metric would show progress? 5. **Choose the initiative where design can create the most value.** Not always the biggest — the one where many concepts connect to a shared outcome. ### The 10 common initiative types - Simplify Identity & Access - Accelerate Onboarding & First-Use Success - Optimize Navigation & Discovery - Streamline Checkout & Payment - Increase Engagement & Retention - Personalize User Experiences - Strengthen Collaboration & Communication - Elevate Marketing & Growth Pages - Improve Content & Support - Expand Device & Context Reach Each points to a different friction pattern, business pressure, and signal pattern. ### Output of the move A framed initiative names: area of experience, audience, user need, business goal, UX metric, decision the team needs to make next. That set is the input Methods needs. --- ## How to Apply 1. **Diagnose whether an initiative is even named.** Scattered requests = symptom of missing initiative. Don't jump to methods or comparisons until the initiative is framed. 2. **Force the three connections** (user need + business goal + measurable part of experience). Missing any = not ready. 3. **Run the 5-step method** when the user is choosing what to focus on. 4. **Use the 10 common initiative types as starting points** when the user can't find a frame. 5. **Don't over-define.** A good initiative gives enough clarity to focus, but not so much that the decision is already made. 6. **Hand off to Methods** once the initiative names the inputs Methods needs. --- ## Handoffs - Choosing the right frame to learn through next — shift to **Focus: Methods**. - Placing signals side by side once methods have run — shift to **Focus: Comparing**. - Turning evidence into a clear next move — shift to **Focus: Decisions**. - Upstream: clarifying the user need or audience first — shift to **Define**. - Upstream: turning hunches into testable signals — shift to **Measure**. - Connecting the chosen direction to business outcomes — shift to **Lead**. - The whole Focus flow — shift to **Focus**. - The Define -> Measure -> Focus -> Lead chain — shift to **Decision Map**. --- ## Critical Rules - An initiative without **all three** connections (user need + business goal + measurable part of experience) is not ready. - Don't over-define. Initiatives focus the work; they don't pre-decide it. - Group concepts under the initiative — a single initiative may hold dozens of concepts. - Pick the initiative with the most leverage, not the biggest scope. - Don't move to Methods until the initiative names: area of experience, audience, user need, business goal, UX metric, decision needed. - Use the 10 common types as starting points, not a closed list. **The goal is to leave the user with one named initiative — three connections in place — ready to feed Methods.**
Great — this is a strong prompt, and it gives us everything we need to frame an Initiative cleanly. I’m going to apply it directly to your current working context (mobile banking dashboard + “too many actions with equal weight”). 🧭 Framed Initiative Initiative Name Reduce Cognitive Load & Prioritize Key Actions on the Mobile Banking Dashboard 🔗 The Three Load-Bearing Connections 1. User Need Users need to: Quickly understand their financial status Identify what matters right now Take the right action without thinking Core tension: “Show me what I need to do — don’t make me figure it out.” 2. Business Goal Increase engagement with high-value actions (e.g. transfers, payments, deposits) Reduce drop-off from confusion or overwhelm Improve trust and perceived usability of the app Underlying business pressure: If everything is equally visible → nothing gets used intentionally. 3. Measurable Part of the Experience Dashboard action hierarchy Number and prominence of visible actions Visual prioritization (layout, grouping, emphasis) 🧠 Initiative Type (from the 10) This maps most strongly to: 👉 Optimize Navigation & Discovery (with a secondary tie to Increase Engagement & Retention) 🪜 Applying the 5-Step Method 1. Map the request to the larger goal Request: “Too many actions on the dashboard” Larger goal: Drive meaningful action + reduce friction Scope: Dashboard (entry point of the app) This is NOT just a UI cleanup — it’s a decision prioritization problem. 2. Find the user need behind the work Users are not asking for: “fewer buttons” They are actually asking for: “clarity on what matters” “confidence in what to do next” 3. Group the concepts under this initiative This single initiative can hold many concepts: Reducing visible actions Creating primary vs secondary actions Contextual actions (based on user state) Grouping actions into categories Progressive disclosure (“more actions”) Personalized dashboards Task-based prioritization (e.g. “Pay due soon”) 👉 These are not separate initiatives — they are approaches within one initiative 4. Decide the signal that creates confidence This is where your UX metrics come in. Strong signals for this initiative: Task clarity → “I know what to do next” Perceived simplicity Time to first action Action confidence Engagement with priority actions (vs. low-value ones) 5. Choose this initiative (why it has leverage) This is high-leverage because: It affects every user session It impacts first impression + ongoing usage It connects directly to conversion behaviors (payments, transfers, etc.) 👉 This is not a “nice-to-have” — it’s a core product surface ✅ Final Initiative Output (Ready for Methods) Use this as your clean handoff: Initiative Reduce cognitive load and improve action prioritization on the mobile banking dashboard Audience Mobile banking users checking their account and deciding what to do next User Need “I need to quickly understand my situation and know what action to take without thinking.” Business Goal Increase engagement with high-value actions and reduce friction caused by overwhelm Part of Experience Dashboard layout, action hierarchy, and visibility UX Metrics / Signals Task clarity Perceived simplicity Time to first action Engagement with prioritized actions Decision the Team Needs to Make 👉 How should actions be prioritized, grouped, and revealed on the dashboard to guide users toward the most relevant next step? 🚦What Comes Next You’re now exactly where the prompt says you should be: “Don’t move to Methods until the initiative names the inputs Methods needs.” You’ve got that now. 👉 Next move: Shift to Focus: Methods That’s where we decide: How do we test prioritization? What concepts do we put in front of users? What experiments create signal? If you want, I can: Turn this into 3–5 testable concepts Or help you pick the right methods (survey, prototype test, etc.) for this initiative Just say the word 👍