assumption-mapper

Assumption Mapper Skill

Surface and prioritize the untested assumptions embedded in any product plan before development begins.

Required Inputs

Ask the user for these if not provided:

• Product brief, PRD, or concept description (even rough notes work)
• Stage (concept / discovery / pre-build / post-launch — affects which assumptions matter most)

Process

1. Read the provided brief, PRD, or concept description
2. Extract assumptions across four categories:
   • Desirability (do users want this?)
   • Feasibility (can we build it?)
   • Viability (will it sustain the business?)
   • Usability (can users actually use it?)
3. Score each assumption:
   • Confidence (1-5): How sure are we this is true?
   • Impact (1-5): How badly does the plan fail if this assumption is wrong?
   • Priority = Impact − Confidence (higher = test first)
4. Validate completeness — Ensure at least one assumption per category. If a category is empty, re-read the brief looking specifically for that type.
5. Output a ranked list with recommended validation methods

Output Structure

Assumption Map: [Feature/Product Name]

Assumption	Category	Confidence	Impact	Priority	Validation Method
[assumption]	[type]	[1-5]	[1-5]	[score]	[method]

Critical Assumptions (Impact 4+ and Confidence 2 or below)

[Flagged items with detailed validation recommendations]

Top 3 Assumptions to Validate First

[Detailed recommendations including specific research method, estimated effort, and what the result would change]

Example (Partial)

Input: "We're building a self-serve onboarding flow to reduce time-to-value for SMB customers."

Assumption	Category	Confidence	Impact	Priority	Validation Method
SMB users can complete onboarding without human help	Usability	2	5	3	Unmoderated usability test (n=8)
Faster onboarding correlates with higher retention	Viability	3	4	1	Cohort analysis of current onboarding times vs. 90-day retention
The current onboarding is the primary reason for slow time-to-value	Desirability	2	4	2	User interviews with recent churned SMB accounts

Anti-Patterns

• Do not only surface desirability assumptions — feasibility and viability assumptions are equally likely to kill a product and are often overlooked
• Do not assign high confidence to an assumption just because it hasn't been challenged yet — absence of evidence is not evidence
• Do not recommend "user interviews" as the validation method for every assumption — some assumptions require quantitative data, competitive analysis, or technical spikes
• Do not list assumptions that cannot be tested — every assumption in the map must have a plausible validation method, or it should be flagged as unknowable and treated as a risk

Quality Checks

• At least one assumption per category (Desirability, Feasibility, Viability, Usability)
• All Impact 4+ / Confidence 2− assumptions flagged as CRITICAL
• Each validation method is specific (not just "do research" — name the method and sample size)
• Priority scores are consistent (Impact − Confidence, higher = more urgent)