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Criterion
Paper illustration for Diary Study.
UX Research
Diary Study
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration for Smoke Test.
Product Discovery
Smoke Test
Purposedifferent
When experiences build up over days or weeks and a single session cannot capture them, Diary Study records the course of everyday life. Recurring triggers, moods, and habits become visible this way, beyond the sharpness of memory.In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures.When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowLow
Timedifferent
1-4 Wochen20–45 min1-5 Tage
Participantsdifferent
5-20Small cross-functional groupNutzertraffic
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshopAsync
Outputdifferent
Diary Entries, Longitudinal Patterns, Experience TimelineRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logInterest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note
Tagsno overlap
UX researchTrackingBehavior
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth
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Paper illustration of a calm four-quadrant Assumption Map with hypothesis cards and emphasis on important assumptions with little evidence.
Product Discovery
Assumption Mapping
Paper illustration for Fake Door Test
Product Discovery
Fake Door Test
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing