Mix and Match the Methods

Whenever I reconnect with teams that I’ve coached in the past, I always like to ask them about their discovery process. Many are embarrassed to say they are no longer story mapping or they no longer walk the lines of their opportunity solution tree. When I ask, “How come?” they always explain they are getting so good at seeing their own assumptions that they don’t need to do these steps anymore. There’s nothing wrong with that. All of the habits in this book are designed to get you to a specific outcome. This chapter is about helping you become aware of the assumptions you are making and encourages you to explicitly enumerate them.

If you have no idea how to do that, story mapping, pre-mortems, walking the lines of your opportunity solution tree, and questioning potential harm will help you start to see your own assumptions. However, as you exercise this muscle, these methods may become less necessary. That’s not a bad thing. That means you are developing your skills around questioning your assumptions.

You don’t need to use every method for every idea every time. If you are struggling to enumerate viability assumptions, walk the lines of your opportunity solution tree. If you are great at identifying feasibility assumptions but often forget about desirability assumptions, take some time to story map the idea. Use the methods that shore up your weak spots.

In my experience, most teams have a bias toward one category or another. They are great at testing usability but forget about desirability. Or they always remember desirability and usability, but they forget viability. Most product teams have a blind spot for ethical assumptions. Our intentions are good, so we forget that our product has potential harm. Use the methods that help you address your team’s specific blind spots.