I frequently use the term ‘focus on intent’, especially with respect to the writing of story cards and acceptance criteria. When I’m focused on intent:
- I understand, with absolute clarity, the goal my customer is trying to achieve and it’s NOT expressed in terms of how I am going to get there.
- I have distilled the context of the situation by identifying the most significant or important contributing factors.
- My clarity of understanding allows me to convey meaning, describing these factors clearly with a high signal-to-noise ratio.
- My state of mind is determined and concentrated on a central point while I focus on achieving only one thing at a time without ambiguity on the outcome.
- I have identified a clear, unambiguous measurement that will tell me when I am done.
- I am conscious of the essence of design and so I maintain consistency at different levels of detail so that everything makes sense separately and in context of the whole.
For me, focusing on intent conceptually represents a cognitive state required to be effective. However, achieving this state of mind isn’t easy, especially in a busy environment. Personally, I find the Pomodoro technique useful in staying focused.
