Strategy: Validation completes the picture

A strategic hypothesis lays out your view of the market, the opportunity, the risks, and a prioritized set of options. Once subjected to internal review and discussion, there are bound to be a number of additional questions raised, and perhaps some preferences expressed.

The purpose of validation is to test the preferred options with friendly customers and internal stake-holders, and to find answers to the questions raised in the hypothesis review process.

Validation can be short or long, depending on the scope of the strategic leap proposed, and upon the style of the organization. I always try to keep the validation phase short, because you have established some momentum as a result of the hypothesis review, and you don’t want to allow too much time to pass between the establishment of a hypothesis and the delivery of final recommendations.

The key elements to be assembled in preparing for validation are these:

1. The list of unanswered questions raised by your stakeholders that need to be addressed to complete the strategy proposal
2. The list of objections and concerns raised in presentation and discussion of the hypothesis
3. The best sources of answers to the questions, objections and concerns

Then the validation is a process rather like we described for research planning and research execution previously. You need to build a schedule, set up the discussions, and collect the data.

Once you have the validation data, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I still believe the original hypothesis as stated, or does it ...