All good design begins with analysis, determining the current problem, understanding the desired result, and deciding upon the best course of action for meeting solution requirements while living within the constraints of the problem. 

Organizational problems arise due to some level of dysfunction within the operation of a group or team.  Sometimes these problems are simple and self-evident but often times they are highly complex and are the result of several factors both internal and external to the group.

The purpose of a software application is to make a user's work easier.  It is there to serve the user and not the other way around.  Often times applications are overly complex and can contain a large amount of functionality that many users may never take advantage of while critical functionality they do need is left wanting.

Like its close sibling the software application, a user interface (UI) must be an advocate for users and not their adversary.  Even if the application meets their every need, a poor user interface can make it virtually unusable.  This problem is complicated further by the global nature of business as oft times users all over the world must find a UI easy to use regardless of their language or cultural background.

Even more than software applications, web sites seem to permeate our lives.  We use Internet web sites for shopping and researching special interests, intranets for communicating with our business colleagues, and extranets for working with our external business partners. 

Training is a big part of our lives.  We take it formally from childhood through young adulthood.  But what about in adulthood especially related to the work we do? 

As computer users, we are all users of technical documentation whether it is to install, configure and use the hardware or the software that runs on it.  Simple operations usually aren't a problem but the more complex ones are a different issue.  This can be particularly true with software documentation where the topic can be considerably more abstract. 

All the aforementioned designs, whether it is a business process, application or system, a course, a curriculum, or documentation, all are born out of a program or project that needs to be defined, managed, and verified.