hypothesis-discipline

Hypothesis Discipline

Core Principle

A hypothesis is not a guess — it is a structured statement with clear validation criteria and a time budget. Every hypothesis must answer: "How will we know if this is true or false?"

Hypothesis Characteristics

• Hypotheses exist at every level of the OST hierarchy (Outcome → Opportunity → Solution → Assumption)
• Each hypothesis has a target level attribute indicating which OST level it addresses
• Hypotheses follow an ADR-style lifecycle — a single file tracks the full journey from draft to conclusion
• Rejected and invalidated hypotheses are never deleted — they are learning assets

Hypothesis Lifecycle

draft → testing → validated → adopted
                            → rejected (validated but not adopted)
              → invalidated (disproven by evidence)
              → inconclusive (evidence gathered but insufficient to confirm or deny)
              → timeout (deadline passed, decision needed: continue or stop)

Hypothesis File Schema

The authoritative schema is defined in references/hypothesis-template.md. Key fields:

• id: HYPO-NNN
• level: outcome / opportunity / solution / assumption
• status: draft / testing / validated / invalidated / inconclusive / adopted / rejected / timeout
• confidence: per-risk scores (value, usability, feasibility, viability) on 0-10 scale
• time-budget and deadline: validation time constraints

Validation Criteria Requirements

Every hypothesis must define before testing begins:

1. We believe that — the hypothesis statement
2. We'll know we're right when — measurable success criteria
3. We'll know we're wrong when — measurable failure criteria
4. Validation method — how we will test (prototype, data analysis, interview, code spike, market research)
5. Time budget — maximum time investment before forced decision

Time Budget and Cutoff

• Every hypothesis gets a time budget (e.g., 1d, 1w, 2w)
• A deadline sets the hard cutoff date
• When deadline passes without conclusion → status becomes timeout
• Timeout forces a decision: extend (with justification), pivot, or abandon
• Never let a hypothesis run indefinitely — unbounded exploration wastes resources

Confidence Update Rules

• Confidence scores are updated only when new evidence is gathered
• Record the evidence that justified each score change
• Confidence can go down as well as up — negative evidence is valid evidence
• Different risk dimensions can have different confidence levels

Result Recording

When a hypothesis reaches conclusion (validated/invalidated/inconclusive/adopted/rejected):

1. Record the result in the hypothesis file with evidence
2. Update confidence scores with final values
3. Link to evidence (data, screenshots, prototype results, interview notes)
4. Extract learnings — what did we learn regardless of the outcome?
5. Update the parent Opportunity if the result changes its understanding

Key Disciplines

• Separate creation from evaluation: Don't judge hypotheses while generating them
• Seek disconfirming evidence: Actively look for reasons the hypothesis might be wrong
• One hypothesis, one test: Don't bundle multiple hypotheses into a single validation
• Record everything: Even "obvious" conclusions need recorded reasoning
• Rejected ≠ worthless: A rejected hypothesis teaches what doesn't work and why
• Inconclusive is honest: When evidence is insufficient, say so instead of forcing a verdict

Why These Disciplines Matter

Each discipline exists to counter a specific cognitive tendency:

• Separate creation from evaluation counters premature judgment that kills divergent thinking
• Seek disconfirming evidence counters the natural pull toward confirming what we already believe
• One hypothesis, one test counters the temptation to bundle tests, which makes results uninterpretable
• Time budgets with hard cutoffs counter unbounded exploration — a hypothesis without a deadline is an excuse to avoid decisions
• Confidence can go down counters the assumption that validation is always forward progress. Negative evidence is equally valuable