Key Activities
This phase is not about assignments. It’s about signals — what becomes observable when your story meets real decision systems.
Your job is to notice what moves, what stalls, and what changes your certainty — before optimization, before persuasion, before scale.
Your instruments in this phase
Instrument 1
Signal Capture
Notice hesitation, over-explanation, silence, “sounds good” without next steps, or misalignment between stakeholders.
These are early signals — not personal failures.
Instrument 2
Friction Location
Don’t label resistance as vague. Locate it: role, process, incentive, risk threshold, timeline, or constraint.
Friction becomes useful when it’s precise.
Instrument 3
Assumption Audit
Identify what you’re assuming is true (about users, buyers, partners, timing, or behavior) — and whether evidence has earned that confidence yet.
30–60 second check
- What did I expect to happen — and what actually happened?
- Where did certainty drop (even slightly)?
- What would need to be true for the next step to feel easy?
Short reflection prompts
What are we assuming the customer will do without being asked?
What “yes” are we treating as commitment?
Who can slow this down — and why?
What must be true next for movement to happen?