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Assumption Based Development vs Customer Research

Developers should use Assumption Based Development when working on projects with high uncertainty, such as new product development, innovative features, or complex systems where requirements are unclear meets developers should learn customer research to build user-centric products, reduce development waste by avoiding features users don't need, and improve product-market fit. Here's our take.

🧊Nice Pick

Assumption Based Development

Developers should use Assumption Based Development when working on projects with high uncertainty, such as new product development, innovative features, or complex systems where requirements are unclear

Assumption Based Development

Nice Pick

Developers should use Assumption Based Development when working on projects with high uncertainty, such as new product development, innovative features, or complex systems where requirements are unclear

Pros

  • +It's particularly valuable in agile and lean environments to prevent wasted effort on invalid assumptions, enabling faster pivots and more reliable delivery
  • +Related to: agile-methodology, lean-software-development

Cons

  • -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Customer Research

Developers should learn customer research to build user-centric products, reduce development waste by avoiding features users don't need, and improve product-market fit

Pros

  • +It's crucial during the discovery phase of a project, when prioritizing features, or when iterating on an existing product based on user feedback
  • +Related to: user-experience-design, product-management

Cons

  • -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use Assumption Based Development if: You want it's particularly valuable in agile and lean environments to prevent wasted effort on invalid assumptions, enabling faster pivots and more reliable delivery and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Customer Research if: You prioritize it's crucial during the discovery phase of a project, when prioritizing features, or when iterating on an existing product based on user feedback over what Assumption Based Development offers.

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The Bottom Line
Assumption Based Development wins

Developers should use Assumption Based Development when working on projects with high uncertainty, such as new product development, innovative features, or complex systems where requirements are unclear

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