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What if the answer is no?
Why it works this way
A test that says no has done its job: you found out before you built.
The expensive mistake is building the wrong thing. So the product is set up to let a no happen. You write the bar before you look, a pass never means the agent works, nothing is picked for you, and a problem nobody wrote about is marked "not checked" instead of being given a low score. A product that could only say yes would just be a polite way to spend your time.
What we gave up: the good feeling of a yes. A pass here is a signal from one test, so it never gets to feel like a green light, and stopping still stings.
What it is
Sometimes a test comes back against your idea. That is a result, and often the most useful one. A fast, cheap no is the product working. It is not the product failing.
How to use it
- Set the bar before you look. A no only means something if a no was possible. See How do I set the bar, and why can't I change it later?.
- Call the result as it came. On a test of one idea you press Call it, then choose It worked, Mixed or It didn't. Iris, your AI guide, asks what actually happened and records your answer as you say it.
- Work out what the no is about. It can be about the idea, the people you asked, or the test itself.
- Choose a road. You have four: Test it again, properly, Change one thing, Right people, wrong idea and Stop here. A no does not always mean stop. See What are the four roads after a test?.
- If you stop, keep the record. What you tried and what came back stay on your board.
What it will never do
- Treat a no as a loss of your work. What you tried and what came back stay on the board.
- Choose the road for you. A no from one test can be about the idea, the people or the test, and which one it is, is your call.
- Tell you a pass means the agent works. A pass means the idea has earned more work.
If something looks off
- The test said no and you think it was unfair. Check the bar you set: did it say what you meant before you looked? Test it again, properly keeps everything and asks what you will do differently.
- The result was Mixed. Mixed is a result too. The four roads open once a result is recorded, whichever way it went.
- A no came from a test with no customer in it, such as a cost check or a scenario walk. These can rule an idea out and can never confirm one, so a no from them is worth taking seriously.
- You are not ready to stop. Stop the test. Stopping deletes nothing. See Can I stop a test?.
- You want to try a different idea. Start a new board, or change where to build. See What happens if I change my mind?.