PART IV: VALIDATION
CHAPTER 9 Identify Assumptions Better
Exercise: Creating a Falsifiable Statement
The Dangers of Identifying Assumptions
Expert Advice from Learie Hercules
CHAPTER 10 Validate Assumptions Better
Some Useful Validation Testing Methods
Exercise: Pick a Validation Method
Exercise: The Hypothesis Tracker
The Dangers of Validating Assumptions
Expert Advice from Janice Fraser
Expert Advice from Avinash Kaushik
CHAPTER 12 Build a Better Team
FOREWORD
No one makes bad products on purpose, and yet we have so many of them in our lives. There are certainly plenty of fancy books with copious advice on “how to do it right,” but somehow they have little impact on the world. Much of the problem is the faith that authors have that there is a magic way to do things, and all we need to do is describe the magic. But product teams and software projects are magic resistant. They require something more to improve how they function.
The good news is…the book you have in your hands right now! It sheds the pretense so common in books on design and product management, instead favoring clear advice, straightforward lessons, and exercises you can do easily with your team. Laura Klein has wisely put the focus on you and your world, and she sets up her lessons in a fashion that makes them simple to apply. The star of every chapter is an exercise, and this is no accident. These techniques spark conversation, insights, and improved understanding—three powerful forces to have on your side. The sooner you start to apply her wisdom to your situation, the faster your ability to build better products will rise.
—Scott Berkun
Author, Making Things Happen
INTRODUCTION
What is a better product? This is not a semantic question. It’s not a hypothetical one either. It’s a serious question about how we define improvement.
Let me start with a story that may sound familiar. I was talking with a company, which shall remain nameless. The company wanted to improve its corporate website. The site allowed visitors to sign up for free trials, make purchases of new seat licenses, and all the other sorts of things you might expect from a large enterprise company that sells software as a service (SaaS) to other businesses.
The site hadn’t been updated in awhile, but not for lack of trying. They’d made two or three attempts over the course of as many years, going so far as to hire outside agencies to conduct a redesign. But somehow, while their efforts had generated a lot of Photoshop files and some spectacularly large bills, there had never been a user-facing change.
Finally, on the fourth try, they succeeded in jumping through all the hoops necessary to finish the project. The new design cost over a million dollars (and I am not making this number up). That was just the design. That number didn’t cover the cost of implementation or internal management or changing any of the marketing material to match. It didn’t cover anything other than some Photoshop files. It also didn’t cover the costs of the previous three redesign attempts. The final cost of the project
