Novel Solution Shipped (Problem → Prototype → Real Users)
12 weeks · 4 milestones
Milestone map
Milestone map
3 milestones
Choose one real problem you want to solve — in your work, your community, or a domain you know well. Before generating any solutions, spend 1 week collecting evidence about the problem: at least 3 conversations with people who experience the problem (not people who share your view of it), and a written inventory of your own assumptions — what you currently believe about the cause, the affected people, and what a solution would look like. Then mark each assumption as evidence-backed or hypothesis-only.
Proof required
Submit your problem research file: notes from at least 3 real conversations (bullet points per conversation with specific things said, not paraphrases) and a written assumption inventory (at least 8 assumptions, each labelled evidence-backed or hypothesis-only, with one sentence of justification). The problem statement must be a real problem you intend to work on, not a classroom exercise.
What gets checked
- 3 real conversations documented with specific content — 'spoke to 3 people who agreed with me' is not research; the notes must capture what the people said, including things that surprised you
- Assumption inventory contains at least 8 assumptions with evidence/hypothesis labels — assumptions that are all 'evidence-backed' suggest the inventory was not honest about the hypothesis-only ones
- At least 3 of the assumptions are labelled hypothesis-only with an honest acknowledgement of what evidence would be needed to test them