Testing tools
Testing business assumptions
Duration: 3 hours
After being identified, some assumptions can be evaluated on the spot. The most sensitive ones, though, must be validated through testing. The worst way to test a business assumption is to implement the plan and then to see what happens. The worst way to test if the ground floor of a certain building is a good place to open your long-dreamed specialty coffee shop would be to actually open the shop there. In IT this mistake is called premature optimization. There are much cheaper and faster methods to test whether the building itself, the neighboring area, the pedestrian traffic, the competition around etc. are a good environment for a successful venture. Surely, you already imagine some methods to test this scenario. This module intends to strengthen both our inclination to test early and our skill to choose the best testing method, while avoiding the classical traps like confirmation bias, selecting on the dependable variable, measuring the wrong behavior, or testing two key variables in the same time.
This module introduces principles from the scientific method that can be applied in business testing, with a special focus on online testing.
Methods. Practical examples, exercises, working on several case studies.
Outcomes. Participants will gain the habit to test the most sensitive assumptions behind a project before implementing it and will know how to design the appropriate test while avoiding the classic mistakes.