The Hypothesis - where analysis meets action

In Seven Steps to a Sound Strategy we outlined the phases of strategy development. This is the point at which the rubber meets the road. You’ve developed a problem statement, collected information, developed a research plan, carried out the research, and now you have to decide what it all means.

The goal of this phase is simply to build a logical argument that connects your problem statement to a comprehensible explanation of the market and the opportunities available to you, via the research data you have collected along the way. In other words, a good hypothesis takes your audience on a journey that begins with the problem statement and situation analysis, and proceeds to a clear view of actionable alternatives that will help your business and address the problem statement. Perhaps this seems obvious. It’s not. It’s difficult to simplify all the materials without losing the subtlety of different customer insights. If’t difficult to make tradeoffs, and more difficult to sell them internally to your stake-holders.

The two key concepts are understanding your audience, and organization.

1. Your audience means the people to whom you have to deliver the strategy recommendations. They have prejudices, certain levels of experience, specific responsibilities, and so on. Your hypothesis is actually a test vehicle for a final strategy that you will use to gain the support of your audience. Hypo is Greek for “under”, and so a hypothesis is really an early-stage, slightly unrespectable thesis, or set of assertions. It’s ...