What are the most effective ways to identify underlying assumptions in application development?

1 Define your problem and goals

The first step to identify your assumptions is to clearly define the problem you are trying to solve and the goals you are trying to achieve with your application. This will help you narrow down the scope of your project and focus on the most relevant and important aspects. You can use tools like problem statements, user stories, or SMART goals to articulate your problem and goals in a concise and specific way.

3 List your assumptions and hypotheses

Once you have defined your problem, goals, stakeholders, and users, you can start listing the assumptions and hypotheses that underlie your application development. Assumptions are beliefs or statements that you take for granted without verifying them, such as "users will prefer this feature over that one" or "this technology will work well for this problem". Hypotheses are predictions or propositions that you make based on your assumptions, such as "if we add this feature, then users will be more satisfied" or "if we use this technology, then we will save time and money". You can use tools like assumption logs, hypothesis templates, or lean canvases to document your assumptions and hypotheses.

4 Prioritize and categorize your assumptions and hypotheses

Not all assumptions and hypotheses are equally important or risky for your application development. Some may have a high impact on your project success or failure, while others may have a low or negligible impact. Some may be easy or hard to validate or invalidate, while others may be uncertain or ambiguous. You need to prioritize and categorize your assumptions and hypotheses based on their importance and feasibility. You can use tools like impact/effort matrix, assumption/hypothesis matrix, or MoSCoW method to rank and classify your assumptions and hypotheses.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?