Customer test · Lesson 05 of 05

Review evidence and decide the next step.

Make a decision the evidence can support—and keep its limits with it.

By the end of this lesson

Write a proportionate next step, identify what remains unknown and state what would lead you to revisit the decision.

Return to the original question.

Put the question alongside your notes. What did the activity actually address? Look at moments that fit your expectation and moments that do not. Separate help you gave from what a person could do independently.

You might have enough to make a small revision while still lacking evidence for a larger commitment. “Revise the label and check it again” is a different decision from “build the business.” A useful result need not be a yes-or-no verdict on the whole idea.

Write a next step with a boundary.

State what you will do, why the notes support it and what remains unknown. If the activity did not address the question, say so and adjust the activity rather than stretching the conclusion.

Before running your own test, describe the kinds of result that would lead you to continue, revise or investigate further. Afterwards, record the actual evidence. You can change your decision rule when new information warrants it, but record why it changed.

Follow the example · Fictional situation

A wording decision, not a business verdict.

In this fictional continuation, Sam’s notes include two people asking whether the time meant drop-off or collection. A third interpreted it as drop-off. These are teaching examples, not reported research findings.

What the notes support: There is a wording issue worth examining. Sam should not assume the appointment window is clear to everyone.
A proportionate next step: Separate “drop-off window” from “expected collection” and try the revised wording before developing more.
What remains unknown: How widespread the issue is, whether anyone will pay and whether the service is viable.
What to revisit: If the revised wording is understood but people still cannot choose a time, examine what scheduling information is missing.

Pause and try

Which conclusion stays within the evidence?

Given Sam’s fictional notes above, choose the most defensible next step.

Read the explanation

The third choice makes a small, justified revision and preserves the unanswered questions. Neither a population-wide percentage nor a declaration of commercial success follows from the example.

Bring it into your work

Write how you will decide.

If your activity has not happened, write your review plan and possible next moves. If you use Sam’s example, identify it as fictional. Do not invent results for your own idea.

These notes become part of your final test plan. Use the fictional example if you prefer. Keep sensitive personal information out of this practice.

How and when I will review it: Describe what would lead you to continue, revise or investigate further.

What this cannot tell me: Keep unanswered questions separate from conclusions.

The next step and its boundary: Choose a proportionate next move, or describe how you will choose once you have evidence.

Review your work

Is the next step proportionate to what you know?
Can someone see what is still unknown?
Have you said when or why you would revisit it?

Keep a fuller plan in the Idea Worksheet

An existing tool opens separately. It does not receive an answer automatically. Its editable file remains separate from your course file.

Keep your place.

When you have worked through the explanation, practice and application, mark this lesson reviewed. This is your record, not a test score.

Background and related reading

Original Brass Charter teaching, exercises and fictional examples. Background on setting a purpose and observing a task. This course exercise does not establish commercial demand.

Digital.gov: How to conduct a usability test