Creating a voice and content system for Viva Goals

What I did: Established the voice, terminology, and UX writing standards for Microsoft Viva Goals, creating guidance that helped teams build a more consistent product experience.

Role: Lead content designer

Impact: A shared source of truth for faster, more confident content decisions.

The challenge

Viva Goals was undergoing a major redesign, with teams making hundreds of content decisions across a complex product. After five years working with the software from Ally.io through Microsoft, I took the initiative to create the Viva Goals Voice & Style Guide.

Building the system

I combined Microsoft voice principles with years of product knowledge to create product-specific guidance, then partnered across teams to establish it as a shared source of truth.

• Define the voice: Applied Microsoft voice principles to Viva Goals

• Standardize the language: Resolved recurring questions across terminology, capitalization, navigation, error states, goal templates, and other product experiences

• Build alignment: Partnered with PM, design, and content teams to establish shared standards that informed voice guidance across the broader Microsoft Viva suite

  
  

Explore the guide

A selection of the voice, terminology, and UX writing standards created for Viva Goals.

Impact

The guide gave teams a shared source of truth for content decisions, helping PMs and designers work faster while creating a more consistent experience across Viva Goals.

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