Unit 2: Strategy and Writing Behavioral Statements

Behavior is in the language of the user. It’s not how we technically define what they’re doing, but rather how they think of the behavior. So for Uber, it’s probably “take an Uber.”

Your target behavior and the audience’s motivation should work together. If you prompt either of these you should return the other. So if I ask “You needed to go to the doctor last week, what did you do?”, you’ll say “I took an Uber”. And vice versa; if I ask “You took an Uber last week, why did you do that?”, you’ll say “I needed to go to the doctor.”

If this breaks down, that is an immediate ethical concern and cause to pause the project. For example, if I say “You took an Uber last week, why did you do that?” and you said “Well, I wanted to flirt with the driver” – hard stop! Because if why you think you’re doing something and why I think you’re doing something don’t line up, we need to resolve that before proceeding forward.

Remember, the behavior should be sufficient. That is, you could say “order a ride” for Uber but imagine if I got everyone in the world to order a ride…and then they immediately cancelled? That would be a problem. So make sure that the behavior you pick is sufficient for your stakeholders to count it as a success.

Remember, there is no right or wrong behavioral statement. It is just a negotiation between you and your stakeholders on how you’re going to be held accountable!