Metrics used to come from what your tools offered. AI let me build one that didn't exist: a way to measure reflection, not reactions, on an indie movie forum.
Product leaders say their teams build without moving the needle. Their teams say they built exactly what was asked for. Both are right, and that's the problem. AIM - Align, Identify, Measure - is a framework for connecting business goals, user outcomes, and product ideas, so strategy, discovery, and delivery finally talk to each other.
"Just one more week of research and we'll be ready to decide." And the one week becomes three months and no actual decisions are made. This pattern is the silent killer of product discovery. Here's how you can break free from this trap.
Part 2 of 2. When assumption debates get stuck because it feels like "play money," not real stakes, this combination fixes that: blend David Bland's Assumptions Map with Hias Wrba's Bet-Cost-Matrix and a metaphorical pain scale, and suddenly the debate is about their money, their risk, their skin in the game.
In this 2-part series, I will share two practical ways to enhance your Assumptions Mapping by combining it with two other methods to make assumption prioritisation more concrete and make productive decisions.
A simple table for deciding when an idea needs product discovery and when you should just build it, with real examples for each of the three cases.