# Concepts AI Skill Measure Area · Concepts Move · Decision Map --- ## 1. What the Skill Does The Concepts skill helps teams define exactly what they are trying to design and why before they start building or testing anything. It is the first move inside the Measure area of Glare's Decision Map. This is where teams turn a vague project direction into a focused, testable effort with a clear goal. Without a clear concept, work scatters. Teams run tests without knowing what they are trying to prove. Metrics pile up but do not mean anything. The Concepts skill fixes that by connecting a user need from the Define area to a business goal from the Lead area — and naming the signal that will prove the concept worked. Every concept has three parts. | Part | Where it comes from | Example | |---|---|---| | User Need | Define area | Clarity in checkout — users need to choose a payment option without making errors | | Business Goal | Lead area | Reduce payment drop-offs — lower abandonment rate by 15% this quarter | | Concept | Measure area | Redesign the payment step to reduce abandonment | All three parts must be present. A concept without a user need is a feature request. A concept without a business goal is a design exercise. A concept without a signal to measure is a guess. **The 5-Minute Test** Teams often think they have a clear concept when they do not. The problem shows up later — in testing, when results do not connect to any decision, or in reviews, when stakeholders ask what the work was actually trying to solve. The test is simple: write the user need, the business goal, and the signal that would prove the concept worked — in under five minutes. If the team cannot do it, the concept is not clear yet. Stop and sharpen the framing before moving to hunches or questions. --- ## 2. Business Benefit A clear concept keeps the whole team focused on the same problem. It connects design work to outcomes that leadership already cares about. This helps teams: - stop running tests that do not connect to a decision - avoid building features that solve the wrong problem - give every downstream hunch, question, and finding a target to validate - compare results fairly across different projects - replace debate with evidence faster Work becomes easier to prioritize, test, and explain. --- ## 3. Skill Output When used correctly, the skill produces a clear concept brief for a design effort. The brief shows: - the user need and its UX metric - the business goal and its business metric - the concept framed as one focused design effort - the signal that will prove it worked The example below shows how this works for a mobile banking dashboard. | Field | Example Output (Mobile Banking Dashboard) | |---|---| | User Need | Findable — users need to locate their balance and recent transactions within one tap | | UX Metric | First-click success rate on balance and transaction history | | Business Goal | Reduce session abandonment — users who cannot find key information leave without completing any action | | Business Metric | Session abandonment rate | | Concept | Redesign the mobile banking dashboard home screen to surface balance and transactions in one tap | | Signal to Prove It | First-click success rate improves from current baseline and session abandonment rate drops | | Failure Mode to Watch | Defining two or more concepts at once. One concept at a time forces the right focus. Multiple concepts in one brief is a sign the problem has not been narrowed yet. | | Next Step Handoff | → glare-measure-hunches to form the first falsifiable hypothesis based on this concept | The output connects directly to the other Measure moves: - Hunches takes the concept and forms a testable hypothesis - Questioning turns the hypothesis into specific research questions - Findings checks results against the original concept to confirm or disprove it --- ## 4. Prompt Strategies The prompts below show different ways to use this skill. Each example uses a mobile banking dashboard update. --- ### Prompt 1 — Diagnostic Entry: Start from a scattered project "Our team is updating the mobile banking dashboard but everyone has a different idea of what the project is trying to solve. Some people want to simplify the layout. Others want to add personalization. Others want to improve load speed. Using the glare-measure-concepts skill, help us run the 5-minute test and define one clear concept that connects a user need to a business goal and names the signal that will prove it worked." **Why this works:** Scattered projects usually mean no one has named the concept yet. This prompt uses the 5-minute test to force the team to choose one problem, connect it to a measurable outcome, and stop treating all directions as equally valid. **Best for:** - projects where the team cannot agree on what they are solving - sprint kickoffs where the brief is too broad - any situation where research results keep going in circles --- ### Prompt 2 — Framing Entry: Build a concept from existing work "We know from our Define area work that the user need is Findable — users cannot locate their transaction history within two taps. We know from our business goals that we need to reduce session abandonment. Using glare-measure-concepts, help us frame this into a single concept with the right user need, business goal, and signal — and check it against the 5-minute test." **Why this works:** Teams that have already done Define work often have the right inputs but have not connected them yet. This prompt uses the concept framework to assemble the three parts into a brief that is ready for testing. **Best for:** - teams coming out of a Define phase with user needs already named - connecting existing research to a new sprint goal - preparing a concept before writing research questions --- ### Prompt 3 — Catalog Entry: Find the right concept type for a use case "We are redesigning the mobile banking dashboard home screen. We are not sure whether to frame this as a Dashboard Engagement concept, an Onboarding concept, or something else. Using glare-measure-concepts, help us identify the right concept category for this work, explain what that category is designed to measure, and confirm whether our current framing fits." **Why this works:** Naming the right concept category gives teams a consistent lens across projects and helps them borrow from comparable work. This prompt uses the concept catalog to anchor the framing before testing begins. **Best for:** - teams starting a new design effort without a clear category - projects where the scope keeps expanding - preparing a concept brief that needs to travel to other teams --- *Glare Framework · glare-measure-concepts · Measure Area* *Handoffs: glare-measure-hunches · glare-measure-questioning · glare-measure-findings · glare-design-signals*