Don’t waste time fighting the hypothesis war, quickly find ways to validate.

We’ve all been through this. In a meeting, over an email, on a chat group. There’s a new idea and there’s back and forth on why the idea will work/won’t work.

As the conversation progresses, we start bringing in imaginary variables “Think about the motivation factor” “This is not even a top priority for the customer”

Sometimes the imagination gets out of hand “They don’t even use smartphones”

And muscles are being flexed “I’ve seen this so many times in my career”

The truth is, no one can really know. So many things are being assumed. Usually, the loudest voices and the powerful chairs have their way.

Hypothesis wars will leave you exhausted, sometimes even disappointed. Spend your energy in finding inexpensive ways to validate your idea.

  • Run short, inexpensive experiments
  • Ask your target audience
  • Look for social proof on public forums

Go back with proof.

Ideas seldom fall under a binary bucket of “Will work”/”Won’t work”. It’s a function of many things like timing, execution quality and the target audience.

Of course, There will be ideas that are so obvious/so stupid that need to be instantly implemented/rejected. Don’t waste time experimenting there.

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