Aglet

Triage Discovery Assumptions Before Building

An assumption is a bet about users, value, behavior, or feasibility that has not earned confidence yet. Triage makes the bet visible before design work gives it momentum. Name the decision, the people affected, and the observation that could change the team's mind.

Establish what is happening

  1. Name the belief precisely

    Write the belief as a sentence that could be wrong, such as users will switch from a manual workaround when a saved view exists. Identify the actor, trigger, expected behavior, and decision that depends on the belief.

  2. Separate evidence from confidence

    List interviews, observations, support records, prototypes, or usage traces that bear on the belief. Mark each item as direct observation, participant interpretation, team opinion, or missing evidence. Record when and where the evidence was collected.

  3. Bound the first test

    Choose the smallest observation that could raise or lower confidence without building the full solution. Define the audience, context, time window, and disconfirming result. Write down exclusions so an encouraging anecdote cannot silently broaden the claim.

What to carry forward

The triage brief should name the assumption, decision at risk, evidence already available, and smallest useful test. Stop when another person can tell what would change the belief. Keep the assumption provisional when the sample excludes a relevant user group or context.

Technical background: GOV.UK user research guidance.

Keep the decision with the work.

Use a Work Item in Aglet to record the problem, the evidence you have, and the next decision. Add an owner and priority, then keep updates in the discussion so the next person can follow the reasoning.

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