Assumption Mapping Expert

Overview

Systematically identify, categorize, and prioritize the assumptions underlying your product decisions. This skill extends Teresa Torres' four risk categories with four additional categories for new products, and uses a devil's advocate approach from PM, Designer, and Engineer perspectives to surface hidden assumptions.

Core Capabilities

• 4-8 category risk model — Value, Usability, Viability, Feasibility (Torres core) plus Ethics, Go-to-Market, Strategy, Team for new products.
• Devil's advocate surfacing — adversarial PM, Designer, and Engineer perspectives expose hidden assumptions.
• Impact x Risk scoring — Risk Score = Impact x (1 - Confidence) ranks what to test first.
• Quadrant classification — Test Now / Proceed / Investigate / Defer with category-matched validation methods.
• Automated tracking — assumption_tracker.py sorts by priority and suggests next actions.

When to Use

• After ideation, before committing to build.
• When a product decision "feels right" but has not been validated.
• When the team disagrees on risk or priority -- assumptions make disagreements explicit.
• Before designing experiments -- test the riskiest assumptions first.