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| Criterion |  Growth North Star Metric |  Product Discovery Riskiest Assumption Test |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |  Product Discovery Fake Door Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When product teams track many metrics, the view of the actual customer outcome easily gets lost. A North Star Metric bundles growth, usage, and value contribution into one signal that makes the system's direction visible. | When an idea hinges on one critical unknown, it prioritizes testing that exact piece of uncertainty first. It separates problem, assumption, solution, and evidence. The result is captured as a prioritized list of assumptions, a test plan, and a result report. | 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. | When demand is still unclear, it measures interest in a feature before it is built. It separates real behavior from polite agreement and deliberately keeps build effort small. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h | 1-2 Wochen pro Iteration | 1-5 Tage | 1-5 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 2-6 | Nutzertraffic | Nutzertraffic |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async | Async |
Outputdifferent | North Star metric, Input metric tree, Measurement cadence | Prioritized Assumption List, Test Plan, Results Report | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Click Data, Interest Signal, Learning Decision |
Tagsno overlap | GrowthMetricsAlignmentRetention | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryAssumptions | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | ValidationExperimentsDemandDiscovery |