Assumptions Map

Every great product, service, and experience exists at the intersection of desirable, feasible, and viable. Use this exercise to surface assumptions, rank them, and lay the groundwork for successful testing.

Serving suggestion

  • 2-8 people
  • 1-2 hours

Pairs well with

  • Participatory Design

Recipes

Bring the team together to kick off a project

Share knowledge within the team

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Look In

How to do it:

  • Gather key stakeholders.
  • Use the assumptions map to identify unknowns (desirability, feasibility, and viability).
  • As a group, identify, group, and prioritize assumptions related to your problem.
  • Map unknowns to a 2×2 prioritization grid to understand uncertainty vs. importance.
  • Ideate tests that could validate or invalidate the unknowns.

Additional resources

How to Look Before You Leap: A Guide to Mapping Assumptions for Product Development Teams – Mural

This much we know: design thinking can help lead to better product development. We’ve seen it to be true in experience mapping and now we’re seeing it in assumption mapping. Read on to learn more about how mapping assumptions can lead to the development of better products.

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Assumptions Mapping – Bridging the Gap Between Design Thinking & Agile – David Bland (Video)

Precoil Founder and CEO, David Bland, led a session at Agile 2016 on Assumptions Mapping and how to use LeanUX to bridge the gap between Design Thinking, Lean Startup and Agile. In this interview David shares his thoughts on how Assumptions Mapping can be used to create valuable conversations with your teams that will deepen their understanding of the customer’s needs, the risks associated with addressing those needs, and ultimately, where to focus their efforts in order to increase learning and deliver greater value.

Watch the Video

You Assume… – Seed Camp

Seed Camp explains a good exercise on how to reevaluate your assumptions.

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