Session 02: Tools for Measuring Objectives

Session 01: Goals, Objectives, and Guidelines
Session 03: Deliverables

Welcome to the second session for pinning down a system of online notes for Cryptiquest projects. This session will attempt to discover if any tools need to be created to ensure the success of the project.

As a reminder, this is where we left off from the last session:

Goal: Establish a system for writing notes and logs for Cryptiquest projects online.

Objective 1: The system must connect to an online community.
Objective 2: The system must be able to accommodate advanced formatting, including lists, indents, an tables.
Objective 3: The system must allow session-based posts.
Objective 4: The system must feature a way for posts to be linked together under the same project.
Objective 5: Ensure the system allows for Cryptiquest, LLC to maintain rights to all content posted for and by Cryptiquest, LLC.

Guideline 1: Content generated through this system shouldn’t be trite or inconsistent.
Guideline 2: Content generated through this system shouldn’t be confusing or boring.
Guideline 3: Content generated through this system shouldn’t contain “off switches”.

Okay – there’s a problem right off the bat. The first objective needs to be refined. As written, all we need to check whether it is successful or not is whether it “connects” to an online community”. What exactly does “connect to an online community” mean? The idea here (I think) is that these notes and logs should be available to an online audience for – an opportunity for discussion? I’ve seen communities based on similar ideas (The Angry GM, for example). So that’s kind of what I’m going for, I think? Maybe the objective should be rewritten as follows:

Objective 1: The system must connect to an online community with the intention of facilitating discussion about the posts.

That’s better, I think. We can check this objective as successful if the system somehow has a comment section for each post? Or each post is written in a populated online forum? Either way, there needs to be some sort of discussion option for the post. Hmm…. Put another way, would this objective be met if the system had a comment section under each post? This could be easily resolved by adding the posts to one of my Cryptiquest sites. The problem is that my sites do not have a baked-in audience. So if this is an issue, then I should probably incorporate this into the objective?

Objective 1: The system must connect to a populated online community with the intention of facilitating discussion about the posts.

That’s pretty wordy but it gets to the root of it, I think. This type of objective is a Boolean, no tools required to measure its success. The second objective is also a Boolean – it’s fairly easy to determine whether a system allows advanced formatting options. The third objective is the same – and the fourth and the fifth. All objectives are now measurable.

Here is where we stand:


Goal: Establish a system for writing notes and logs for Cryptiquest projects online.

Objective 1: The system must connect to a populated online community with the intention of facilitating discussion about the posts.
Objective 2: The system must be able to accommodate advanced formatting, including lists, indents, an tables.
Objective 3: The system must allow session-based posts.
Objective 4: The system must feature a way for posts to be linked together under the same project.
Objective 5: Ensure the system allows for Cryptiquest, LLC to maintain rights to all content posted for and by Cryptiquest, LLC.

Guideline 1: Content generated through this system shouldn’t be trite or inconsistent.
Guideline 2: Content generated through this system shouldn’t be confusing or boring.
Guideline 3: Content generated through this system shouldn’t contain “off switches”.

The next session will delve into deliverables as I try to identify all the tasks required to finish this project.

Session 01: Goals, Objectives, and Guidelines
Session 03: Deliverables