After defining assumptions about your solution or your users, quantify how your team will prove or disprove those assumptions.
👥 whole team | ⏰ between 45 and 60 minutes
Objectives
Anything that has not been previously proven by internal or external research is an operational definition that needs to be proven or demonstrated. In this exercise, we break down the hypothesis into key assumptions that we can measure and prove or disprove.
Instructions
An operational definition is a breakdown of the hypothesis into key assumptions that we are making about our customers, their motivations, and their predicted behaviours, that we can turn into operational parameters. These are statements that are measurable and falsifiable, so that we can determine whether our hypothesis is correct, and if not, where it is not correct based on our assumptions.
The template for each assumption is as follows:
<Describe an assumption about the customer that contributes to their impression that the product or service is valuable. Repeat for every assumption that qualifies.>
Success:
<Describe behaviors, outcomes, or statements for the user to agree with that confirm that this assumption is correct. Repeat as necessary.>
Failure:
<Describe behaviors, outcomes, or statements for the user to disagree with that contradict this assumption or prove that it is incorrect. Repeat as necessary.>
Existing Proofs:
<List proofs from customer data, analysis, or existing internal/ external research that contribute to proving or disproving your assumption. If research/data is very strong, you may not need to test this assumption explicitly in user testing. Where applicable, link to citations.>
Source:
https://www.slideshare.net/almingwork/nyt-product-discovery-activity-guide