Name the problem without the product
Describe a specific person encountering a specific difficulty. Try writing the sentence without mentioning an app, a service package, or your proposed solution. “Independent shop owners need a dashboard” already assumes the answer. “An owner cannot tell which orders are waiting on a supplier” gives you a problem to investigate.
Make the context narrow enough that someone could tell you the description is wrong. A useful assumption can be challenged; a broad aspiration such as helping businesses succeed cannot.
Separate beliefs from observations
Create four headings: problem, audience, delivery, and economics. Under each, write what must be true for the idea to work. For every statement, note whether it comes from a direct observation, a conversation, or your own expectation.
Do not turn a compliment into purchase evidence. Someone liking an idea and someone changing a routine to use it are different observations. Both can be recorded, but they should not receive the same label.
Test the assumption that would most change your next decision.
Choose one uncertainty
Ask which assumption, if false, would most alter the next decision. That may be whether the problem happens often enough, whether the intended user can authorize a purchase, or whether you can deliver the result within a sensible boundary.
Hypothetical example: before building an ordering tool, walk through a recent delayed order with an owner. Ask what happened, what they did, and what remained unresolved. Keep the conversation about their experience rather than seeking approval for your product.
Set a decision point
Write what you plan to observe and what you will do with the result. A small test could lead you to continue, narrow the audience, change the proposed delivery, or stop. Define the time and effort you are willing to spend before beginning.
Revisit the sheet after the test. Preserve what you learned, including inconvenient evidence, so the next version starts from an observation rather than a more elaborate guess.
Trace one delayed outcome. Separate capacity, rework, and waiting before deciding what to change.
Open Business Bottleneck Review