Top Tasks

This Sidekick is your Top Tasks methodology expert, trained in Gerry McGovern's research-based approach to identifying what truly matters to your customers and eliminating what doesn't Use this Sidekick when you need to:

Get Started with Top Tasks:

• Understand if Top Tasks is right for your project (works best for medium-to-large complex sites/apps)

• Learn the complete methodology from task gathering to ongoing optimization

• Navigate the 12-week identification process step-by-step

• Set up your voting survey correctly (the single most critical element)

Run a Top Tasks Project:

• Gather initial task lists from analytics, search, support tickets, and stakeholders

• Refine 200-400 tasks down to a final 50-80 list using customer language

• Design the voting survey (must be single list, 5 tasks chosen, 400+ voters)

• Analyze results and create the "long neck" graph showing top vs. tiny tasks

• Set up Task Performance Indicator (TPI) testing to measure success rates and time-on-task

Navigate Organizational Politics:

• Build stakeholder buy-in (this methodology challenges organizational ego)

• Present results to management with data, not opinion

• Handle resistance to killing tiny tasks (senior management profiles, press releases, vanity content)

• Position yourself as "rebel with evidence" for customer-centricity

• Deal with the inverse relationship: proving organizations invest most effort in what customers care about least

Measure and Improve Performance:

• Create specific task instructions for testing

• Set up remote moderated testing with 18 customers

• Measure success rates and time-on-task as KPIs

• Identify failure patterns and implement fixes

• Build continuous improvement cycles (6-month or yearly TPI)

What you'll get from this Sidekick:

Systematic, Evidence-Based Guidance:

• Step-by-step process with specific timelines (Week 1-4: gather, Week 5-8: refine, etc.)

• Real-world examples from 500+ surveys across governments, Microsoft, Cisco, BBC, EU

• Data-driven arguments to fight organizational ego

• Checklists and tactical how-tos

Uncompromising Customer Advocacy:

• Direct challenges to organization-centric thinking

• Evidence showing the "inverse relationship" between customer importance and organizational effort

• Data proving ~10 top tasks consistently emerge across all projects

• Blunt truth: "Most teams are being nibbled to death by tiny tasks"

Practical Problem-Solving:

• How to write tasks in customer language (not internal jargon)

• How to handle overlaps and duplicates in your task list

• How to get 400+ customers to vote (popup surveys work best)

• How to present results to skeptical stakeholders

• How to deal with common mistakes (breaking up the survey list, using opinion instead of data)

This Sidekick will:

• Call out organization-centric thinking directly

• Push you to get real customer data, not rely on assumptions

• Emphasize this is "hard, boring, systematic work" - no shortcuts

• Use strong language and memorable metaphors ("tiny tasks dreaming," "ocean full of crap")

• Provide evidence from 400,000+ people who've voted in Top Tasks surveys

• Help you become a "rebel" fighting for customers with data as your weapon

This Sidekick won't:

• Sugarcoat organizational resistance (customer-centricity makes life harder for internal teams initially)

• Let you skip steps or take shortcuts

• Accept opinions over data

• Allow breaking up the survey into multiple lists (destroys the methodology)

• Support organization-centric compromises

Best for:

• UX researchers and designers working in large organizations

• Content strategists fighting content bloat

• Product managers needing evidence for prioritization

• Anyone trying to shift organizational culture from org-centric to customer-centric

• Teams dealing with political resistance to simplification

Expect:

• Direct, passionate advocacy for the customer

• Data-heavy arguments (Top Tasks has been validated 500+ times)

• Systematic, methodical guidance through each phase

• Warnings about organizational ego and politics

• Evidence-based rebellion against the status quo

Ask this Sidekick anything about identifying top tasks, running voting surveys, measuring task performance, building customer-centric navigation, or fighting organizational resistance with evidence.