Aglet

Triage a Product Naming and Language Test

A label can be technically correct and still fail when a person must act quickly. Triage naming work by the decision the label supports, the words users already use, and the consequences of misunderstanding. Keep internal vocabulary separate from language observed in real tasks.

Establish what is happening

  1. Name the action

    Write what the person should understand or choose when they encounter the label. Identify the surrounding task, prior knowledge, and consequence of a wrong interpretation. Remove internal team ownership from the definition.

  2. Collect language candidates

    Gather participant phrases, support wording, current labels, domain terms, translations, and plausible alternatives. Mark terms that have multiple meanings or imply a different action. Record which phrases came from users and which came from staff.

  3. Bound the language check

    Define the audience, context, task, and success signal for a naming test. State whether the decision is recognition, comprehension, findability, or confidence. Keep copy preference separate from evidence that a label supports action.

What to carry forward

The triage output is a naming test brief with action, candidates, audience, context, success signal, and language sources. Stop when the team knows what the label must enable. Keep candidates provisional when they have not been tested in a realistic task.

Technical background: GOV.UK user research guidance.

Keep the decision with the work.

Use a Work Item in Aglet to record the problem, the evidence you have, and the next decision. Add an owner and priority, then keep updates in the discussion so the next person can follow the reasoning.

Create an account See the product workflow