Originated by Rob Fitzpatrick (The Mom Test, 2013).
Customer conversations built on three rules: talk about their life, ask about specific past behavior, and listen more than talk, so that politeness cannot pass for evidence.
When to reach for it
Every early conversation about a product idea or internal initiative has ended in compliments, and the decision needs real evidence of demand.
How it runs
- Pick the area of behavior to learn about, never the idea itself.
- Write questions about what people did last time.
- Keep the idea out of the conversation entirely.
- Press for specifics: when, what happened, what they did next.
- Count commitments of time or money as signal; ignore praise.
- Look for patterns only after five or more conversations.