HADI cycles

Magical guide about #productmanagement Part 6, article?#45

HADI cycles?are an important tool for entrepreneurs and marketers to help develop a product and sell it better. They help to increase the necessary metrics in a relatively short time: site traffic, the number of clicks on an advertising banner, conversion, etc.

But HADI cycles are also a fairly universal tool that can be used, including in self-education. In this article, we will not limit ourselves to the business sphere and consider ways to use HADI cycles also in the field of self-improvement.

What are HADI cycles?

HADI is an abbreviation consisting of the words hypothesis, actions, data, insights, which are translated as “hypotheses”, “actions”, “data” and “conclusions”.

The essence of HADI cycles is that we formulate a hypothesis, perform an action aimed at testing the hypothesis, get some data, feedback, and then draw certain conclusions.

You can see the cycle diagram in the picture:

9 out of 10 hypotheses often ultimately fail. This leads to the conclusion that the company checking as many hypotheses as possible in a fixed timeframe eventually wins.

— Artem Barmin, co-founder of Freshcode

The structure of the cycle has been sorted out, now let’s look at each of the steps separately.

1. Setting a goal

Yes, this point is not in the cycle, but it is a very important point, and it is worth dwelling on.

Before you formulate a hypothesis, you need to find a problem, formulate a goal and determine the desired end result. The goal is best set according to the SMART method.

For example, “sell more” or “become smarter” are very vague goals, it is difficult to put forward specific hypotheses here. And even if you do, you always run the risk of missing something important.

Therefore, it is better to break such global goals into several private and more specific ones. For example, “increase landing conversion” and “increase the clickability of ads in social networks” or “learn to read faster” and “start developing creative thinking”.

2. Hypotheses (hypothesis)

After setting the goal of the cycle, hypotheses begin to be put forward.

A hypothesis is an assumption about what needs to be done to achieve a desired goal. For example, for the purpose of “learning to have an interlocutor”, the hypothesis may be “if you call the interlocutor by name, it will increase sympathy.”

“If… then…” is the basic construction of the hypothesis. Note that it can be multi-level. Example:

If the site becomes easier to navigate, the number of orders will increase. If you simplify the design of the site, it will be easier to navigate. And further hypotheses and suggestions for simplifying the design.

Of course, hypotheses should not be put forward at random. It takes time and effort to check them, and if we are talking about business, then you are also risking money. Therefore, every hypothesis must be based on something. Based on research data, the successful experience of other people, their own reasoned reasoning, etc.

It also makes no sense to test some obvious provisions. Being overconfident is also not worth it, but spending time checking obviously useful innovations with the help of a HADI cycle is not the best idea. Sometimes you need to act right away.

Even at the stage of formulating a hypothesis, it is worth thinking about how you will test it. If, for example, you want to increase the number of clicks on an advertising banner, everything is clear here: you will have access to detailed statistics. But how will you evaluate your progress in intellectual development?

Try to formulate the hypothesis so that it can be tested somehow, otherwise the whole HADI cycle loses its meaning.

3. Actions

After you have put forward a hypothesis, it’s time to test it. Do what you said in the hypothesis.

But do not test several hypotheses at the same time aimed at the same result. That is, if you have two hypotheses on how to increase the level of self-motivation, check them alternately. Otherwise, how can you separate the effect of one hypothesis from another? How will you know which action brought the available result?

Naturally, it is necessary to monitor all other external factors. For example, if your reading speed has increased, it could be due not to the use of some technique, but to the ease of the text.

Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that, apart from the changes caused by the hypothesis, there are no changes. If such conditions could not be achieved and there is a possibility of external factors influencing the result, it is better to double-check the hypothesis.

4. Data (data)

So, the hypothesis is formulated, the action is done, what’s next?

Now you need to get the results. To do this, you need to decide on metrics. In the field of marketing, everything is simple here: the number of clicks on advertising, the number of sales, etc. — you can open statistics and find out if there are positive changes.

In the field of self-education, we also need to strive to identify clear criteria for success. Reading speed measurements, various intellectual tests, etc. Think about how you can determine the validity or fallacy of a hypothesis.

In some cases, it makes sense to get the data several times, i.e. to test it several times. This requires more time and effort, but the data obtained will be as accurate as possible. It is advisable to resort to such reusable testing in the case of testing some global hypotheses, the introduction of which changes a lot, and therefore it is unacceptable to make an erroneous step.

5. Insights

The data is received, what is the next step?

It is necessary to analyze the results. Has the hypothesis been confirmed? Or is there no positive result now, but you realized that if you modernize the hypothesis a little, there will be an effect?

If yes, you need to make the appropriate changes. If not, leave it as it is. And test another hypothesis!

If you notice a certain working principle, test several ways to implement it. For example, there are several techniques for structuring information for taking notes, so that it is more convenient to repeat what you have learned. If you have found that structuring is, in principle, useful, test the best ways to do it.

Every time you think about whether the hypothesis turned out to be wrong or it does not work in specific conditions, but if you change them, this hypothesis will give a positive result.

Don’t be afraid to go back to the old hypotheses if you have any ideas on how to refine them. You may have failed before, but if there is reason to believe that the hypothesis will work in a new form — you need to try!

And one last piece of advice: don’t get hung up on confirming hypotheses. Yes, finding a way to increase the profitability of your business or make yourself better, increase the pace of your development is always good. But the most important thing is the introduction of working hypotheses.

It is not enough to simply reveal that the hypothesis is true. It is necessary to squeeze the maximum out of this hypothesis, to make it bring the maximum result. Every working hypothesis should work for you, and just knowing about it will not bring you anything.

Example of application of the HADI-cycle

So, we figured out what a HADI cycle is in theory. Now let’s look at an example of using a cycle for self-development.

A certain man wants to improve his knowledge of English on his own. He divides this global goal into several components: improve listening comprehension, increase active vocabulary and learn to memorize new vocabulary faster.

Consider the last goal. The man puts forward two hypotheses.

First: if you use the method of phonetic associations, the speed of memorizing words will increase. The hypothesis is based on articles that praise the method and reviews from people who practice it.

Second: if you repeat new words 5 or more times a day for a week, they will be stored in memory better. This hypothesis is also based on articles for English language learners.

First he decides to check the first article. He prepared two lists of words. They are of equal size and equal complexity.

On the first day, he tried to learn the first list in the usual way and measured the time it took. The next day he checked how well he remembered them. After that, he repeated the same procedure with another list, already using the phonetic association method.

Later, the man revealed that the speed of memorization during the use of the phonetic association method is higher, that is, the first hypothesis is correct. He concluded that it is worth remembering new words in the future in this way.

To test the second hypothesis, the man again prepared two lists of words, both of which he memorized with the same word, but one repeated regularly for a week, and the second one an hour after memorizing, a day, three days and seven days. Then he did not repeat any of the listfor a week, after which he checked how well he remembered the words from them.

It turned out that regular repetition did not give a significant positive result, he remembered the words from both lists equally well. Then he decided not to repeat the words regularly — it’s a waste of time. The hypothesis turned out to be false.

Resume

HADI cycles are a universal marketing and self-improvement tool that includes four stages:

• hypothesizing;
• hypothesis testing;
• getting data;
• analysis of the results.

After going through all the stages of the cycle, you may improve your product (or become better yourself — depending on which area you use this tool). The more often you resort to using HADI cycles, the faster you develop.

As you have seen, HADI cycles are a very useful tool that has many applications. Think about what in your life you would like to improve? Maybe it’s time to put forward and test the first hypothesis?

Thank you for your attention ??