Assumptions Mapping Worksheet

by David J Bland

Behind every new product and business hide leap of faith assumptions. If proven false,
these important and unproven assumptions can make or break you. This worksheet is
designed to identify and map these assumptions as a team to help focus your
experimentation. Allow 60-90 mins to complete as a group.

Desirable - Do they want this?

(Roles: Product, Design and User Research)
What evidence exists that illustrates customers are interested? Desirability risks are that
the market a business is targeting is too small; that too few customers want the value
proposition; or that the company can’t reach, acquire, and retain targeted customers.

Viable - Should we do this?

(Roles: Product, Finance and Business)
What evidence exists that this is a viable business? Viability risks are that a business
can’t generate enough revenue; that customers are unwilling to pay; that the costs are
too high to make a sustainable profit.

Feasible - Can we do this?

(Roles: Engineering, Brand and Legal)
What evidence exists that shows we can build and deliver? Feasibility risks are that
your business can’t get access to key resources (technology, IP, brand, etc.); can’t
develop capabilities to perform key activities; can’t find key partners to build and scale.

Definitions adapted from Testing Business Ideas - David J. Bland & Alex Osterwalder, Themes from Larry Keeley & IDEO

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Your answers below should be as specific as possible to the best of your knowledge, based on what you know today. Write on the
corresponding orange, green and blue sticky notes. You can abbreviate “We believe that…” as “WBT” if necessary.

Do they want this?

(Write the questions and answers to these desirability assumptions on orange sticky notes.)

We believe that…
• the target customer for our solution is _________________________
• our value proposition to our customer is________________________
• customers can or cannot solve this problem by__________________
• we can reach our customers through___________________________
• we can keep our customers by________________________________

Should we do this?
(Write the questions and answers to these viability assumptions on green sticky notes.)

We believe that…
• we can generate revenue by_________________________________
• we can keep our costs low by________________________________
• customers will pay a high enough price because________________
• we can make a profit because________________________________
• this aligns to our vision because______________________________

Can we do this?
(Write the questions and answers to these feasibility assumptions on blue sticky notes.)

We believe that…
• we can address legal and regulatory risks by____________________
• we can solve for the technology challenges by___________________
• we can hire and keep the right team because____________________
• we can sign key partners by__________________________________
• we are uniquely positioned to win because______________________

Questions adapted from Giff Constable

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Mapping Your Assumptions

Next, map out the assumptions you’ve written down together as a team.The shared
understanding generated by the mapping conversation is much more valuable than the
map itself.

Below are some tips to get you started:

1. Draw the X axis first and map ‘have evidence’ vs 'no evidence’. Then draw the Y axis
and map ‘important’ vs ‘unimportant'.

2. Experiment on the top right quadrant to generate evidence for these important and
unproven assumptions. Remember to run experiments that match the desirable,
viable and feasible assumptions, otherwise you won’t generate valid evidence.

3. Share the top left quadrant with your team. Are these important assumptions
supported by evidence and already accounted for in your plan?

4. Defer commitment on everything below the X axis for now.

5. This map is a living document and is an iterative process. Take snapshots of it to

document how things have changed and what you’ve learned over time.

• Adapted from Lean UX - Jeff Gothelf & Josh Seiden - Testing Business Ideas - David J. Bland & Alex Osterwalder

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