As I find myself diving deeper into the Lean Start up and the Lean
Analytics world, I start questioning some of the Agile practices that been have followed me on every single Agile project
I worked on. For instance: the User Story.
As a < type of user >,
I want < some goal >
so that < some reason >.
This User Story format was created by Mike Cohn years ago [Users Stories Applied], and ever
since it has used by many Agile teams. Typically, a Product Backlog has a list
of User Stories to be worked on.
Nevertheless there is another kind of work which Lean enthusiastic are
bringing to everyone’s attention: hypothesis.
Hypothesis is a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.
I have learned the following representation from Alison Vale and Rodrigode Toledo.
Basically I was seeking a better template for a hypothesis. The User
Story format was not working for this one. I need a good format to describe the
?, the -> and the ! – my hypothesis, the work needed in order to get this
hypothesis in play, and the way to validate the results.
So here is my recommendation for a simple and generic hypothesis format:
If < I do this > then < this will happen >
I am currently calling these Business Hypothesis (please share if you have
a better name for it). It includes the ?, the -> and the !; being the ? and
the ! explicitly on the text, and the
-> should be handled as details for that hypothesis. This is similarly to
User Stories, where the implementation details are not contemplated on the format as a… I want to… so that…
This has been working well for the teams I worked
with. Please share your experience with hypothesis. Has this or other formats
worked well for you?
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