Course Objective & Scope
Projects that sound brilliant in slide decks routinely fail after months of costly engineering and rollout because core assumptions were never tested in the wild. High-performing teams replace opinion battles with rapid experiments that test the Riskiest Assumption (RAT) in days rather than quarters. Combining Pretotyping principles with Lean Experimentation, this course teaches how to validate demand, usability and feasibility before building the full solution.
Participants map assumptions for a live initiative, write falsifiable Hypothesis Cards, select an experiment type and define strict go/pivot/kill thresholds.
Who Should Attend?
- Product managers, intrapreneurs, business development and digital transformation leads
- Managers who want empirical evidence before committing budget to new features, services or workflows
- Growth, marketing and customer experience teams
- No technical prerequisites
Key Takeaways
- Shift team debates from opinions ('I think users want this') to falsifiable hypothesis statements
- Use Assumption Mapping to isolate the single riskiest 'leap of faith' assumption
- Select the right lightweight experiment format: Fake Door, Wizard of Oz, Concierge, Mechanical Turk or Paper Prototype
- Measure real behavioral commitment ('skin in the game') rather than flattering survey opinions or vanity metrics
- Make disciplined Persevere, Pivot or Kill decisions using pre-agreed validation thresholds
Curriculum
From Ideas to Assumptions: The Riskiest Assumption Test (RAT)
- Why building the wrong thing efficiently is the primary cause of innovation failure
- Assumption Mapping across desirability, viability and feasibility to isolate 'Leap of Faith' risks
Writing Falsifiable Hypothesis Cards & Kill Criteria
- Structuring 'We believe that... To verify, we will... And measure... We are right if...' cards
- Setting explicit numeric thresholds and kill criteria before running the test to prevent moving goalposts
Pretotyping & Lightweight MVP Experiment Patterns
- Testing demand before building: Fake Door, Painted Door, Smoke Tests and Pre-order experiments
- Simulating the back-end manually: Wizard of Oz, Concierge MVP and One-Night Stand prototypes
Measuring Behavior Over Opinion: Skin in the Game Metrics
- Why surveys and focus groups lie: bridging the Say-Do gap
- Quantifying real user commitment (time, reputation, validated data or money) over vanity metrics
Running the Experiment Loop: Learning Cards & Pivot Decisions
- Documenting outcomes on Learning Cards and diagnosing false negatives vs. broken value propositions
- Communicating experiment results to sponsors to drive evidence-based Pivot, Persevere or Kill decisions
Other Courses in This Category
-
Using generative AI (LLMs) not as a generic copywriter but as a thought partner, devil's advocate, scenario simulator and concept synthesizer; participants build AI-augmented ideation workflows.
- Live Course
- 5 modules
-
Separating divergent and convergent thinking for ambiguous business challenges, root-cause exploration and structured ideation; teams work end-to-end on a live organizational problem.
- Live Course
- 5 modules
-
Analyzing organizational challenges through feedback loops, time delays, system archetypes and leverage points rather than isolated events; leaders map and diagnose their own business systems.
- Live Course
- 5 modules
-
User empathy research, customer journey mapping, problem definition, ideation and rapid prototyping; teams design and test solution prototypes grounded in real user insights.
- Live Course
- 5 modules
-
Avoiding the trap of solving the wrong problem (Type III error), challenging hidden assumptions and multi-perspective reframing; teams unlock stalled initiatives with a sharper problem frame.
- Live Course
- 5 modules
-
Structured ideation beyond flawed brainstorming (Brainwriting, SCAMPER) paired with impact/effort and risk-value prioritization matrices; teams turn scattered ideas into an actionable backlog.
- Live Course
- 5 modules
Get in touch
