Design Criteria
Design criteria are the guardrails. They tell the team what the unfolding design should be — and, just as usefully, what it should not be.
Aim
The Design Criteria and principles are statements about what is considered optimal from a strategic design perspective. The aim of this tool is to provide specific guidance about what the unfolding design should and should not be.
Results
- A set of prioritized criteria or principles to guide the alignment effort.
- Broad directional guides that enable the team to make choices quickly, with confidence they are supporting senior leaders' requirements and expectations.
What makes a great design criterion
Use the Characteristics template below to test the value and impact of your criteria before completing a full Design Criteria chart. A great criterion is:
- Meaningful — directly tied to strategy, values and/or requirements.
- Applicable — translates criteria to resource allocation and choices.
- Measurable — results can be evaluated at some level against the criteria.