Chapter 8: The brief

Non-goal

Something that could reasonably be a goal and that you have chosen not to pursue this time. "No offline mode in this version" is a non-goal. "It shouldn't crash" isn't, because nobody was ever going to want crashes.

An agent reads a gap as room to build. Naming the reasonable thing you are leaving out stops it being built, spares you reviewing it, and tells the next person it was a decision and not something you forgot.

Say it to your agent

“Non-goals for this change: no admin screen, no email notifications, no migration of old events. If you find yourself building one of these, stop and tell me.”

The workshop

Name a word, or describe what you mean in everyday language.