Strategic Plan

Vision, mission, values, goals & objectives

The following strategic direction encompasses the strategy of this site qua website; that is, it is a website strategy rather than an organization strategy. The vision, mission, values, goals, and objectives herein define what is to be accomplished by the site in service of a greater organizational vision.

Vision

A site where everyone can find what they need quickly.

Mission

To deliver a broadly-accessible and inclusive web experience that is efficient and feels fast, using compelling copy, media, and web-standards-based technologies.

Values

What we value

1. Reusable: if you can keep things general so you don’t have to rewrite or even tweak it next time, do that!
2. Empathetic: the team is the product, and the team needs to think always of the user
3. Brief
4. Consistent: one pattern per solution, less one-off stuff and mixed metaphors
5. Understandable: plain language, plenty of documentation, nothing too clever
6. Standard: avoid overbuilt frameworks and abstractions in favor of ‘vanilla’ solutions

What we avoid

1. Dishonesty: don’t plagiarize and always cite your sources
2. Window-dressing: we don’t design for design’s sake, and we don’t remove focus outlines just for the aesthetic
3. Bleeding: the hot newness will still exist after the other guy has gotten the bugs out
4. Perfection: real artists ship

Goals and objectives

1. Inclusive, accessible, usable design that respects our users’ wishes
   • Zero errors reported on any tested page via Lighthouse or WAVE
   • One-week or faster turnaround on repairing any reported accessibility issues
2. Blazing front-end performance that improves conversions and SEO, works for slow connections, and reduces hardware costs
   • Lighthouse performance tests always over 90%
   • Conversion improvement over time via user tests rather than CRO/A-B tests
   • Reduced mobile bounce rate
3. Users don’t need to contact support because the information was right there on the site and easy to find and understand
   • Fewer client support contacts year-over-year
4. Demonstrable journey paths for all personas, and no cheating by deleting personas
   • Prominent, clear, easy-to-use main navigation that reflects the core Information Architecture
   • Snappy and effective search for information foraging
   • Well-written, simple, skimmable content that doesn’t make Steve Krug think