How do you track experiments/assumption tests across ideas?

[Helena Jeret-Mäe]

When conducting assumption tests/experiments, I need to record the assumptions we test and what kind of evaluation criteria apply to each. Then I need to record the result (did it pass the criteria or not).

Has anyone found a way to collate those across ideas?

My issue is this:

• if I track them in an external spreadsheet, then the spreadsheet gives me the functionality I need to nicely filter by result, get an overview etc. But then it's not inside JPD. I'll have to follow a link and switch contexts.
• if I add a table to issue description (or insight or comment), then it will be "locked in" there. I haven't found a way to "extract" just this part into a view where I could see all experiments being planned, going on etc along with results.

I tried to create a view but that didn't work out because I don't know how I could have the idea show up multiple times in the table. Because the JIRA key is the unique identifier and the underlying logic seems to be that in the table each key can show up once. That means that if I have 3 assumptions I need to test for an idea, I can't have the 3 assumptions show up on separate lines with the same idea.

Here's the structure I need:

To make a full circle, then in case the idea will be implemented (if the assumption tests pass) its metrics should feed into the outcome(s). Because how else can we tell that we've moved the needle.

Maybe there is something I don't know or am overlooking. Pls halp :D

[Tanguy Crusson · Accepted solution]

@Helena Jeret-Mäe 👋 we are currently exploring what it would mean to support hierarchies / laddering up of ideas in Jira Product Discovery. 

Would you have time to chat next week? 

https://calendly.com/tcrusson/30min-1

[Helena Jeret-Mäe]

@Tanguy Crusson thanks! I scheduled time on Monday.

[Jonny Fields]

Hey @Tanguy Crusson I posted this today https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Product-Discovery/JDP-for-growth-experiments-and-tracking-start-up-progress/m-p/2775147#M2211?utm_source=atlcomm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=kudos_discussion&utm_content=topic and it feels like it could be a game changer not just for me but for the community. Any advice? Thanks!

[Ivan Ferreira · Accepted solution]

Hello @Helena Jeret-Mäe! I want to share a different perspective.

Did you know you can link Atlas Goals with Jira Product Discovery? Just raise a request to Atlassian support to get this integration on your instance.

What if you use an Atlas Goal as the top-level parent, and the use Ideas as Assumptions. If you think about it, ideas are about testing hypothesis, and you are trying to reach a goal with these ideas. 

Maybe you can use custom fields (number, rating) for Value measured and the results, and a Custom formula (fx) field for the outcomes.

This way, you can have all your Ideas grouped by Atlas Goal (in fact, you can just use the Goal field, but the Atlas integration is really cool).

[Helena Jeret-Mäe]

@Ivan Ferreira Thank you for the suggestions! I think I have heard about it but I've never explored it. I will take a look.

I'm following the continuous discovery process as taught by Teresa Torres. In that methodology everything flows from the outcome. We identify opportunities and sub-opportunities and once we've prioritized them, we will develop solution ideas. So for me "ideas" are pretty specific solutions that are tied to an opportunity. I have organized JPD so that each idea is a solution and a number of solutions can be tied to the same (sub)opportunity.

Once the assumptions have been mapped for each solution, we will choose the critical ones to test. And we may also iterate on the test. So there can be quite a bit of work before we move an idea from discovery to refining the solution and then delivery. 

Hence, your model doesn't cover that but I'll investigate to see what could be done.

I keep my opportunity map in Miro because JIRA doesn't have the capability I need. 

[Ivan Ferreira]

It's a little hard to achieve this kind of map using JPD. 

As you cannot create another type of issue besides idea in JPD, or “subtasks”, maybe you need to combine with another solution, like Advanced Roadmaps or Structure by Tempo to get this kind of tree view. 

Maybe you can create an “Opportunity” Issue Type in another Jira Project. Then, create the Opportunity issue and get the Key.

Create an Idea with an Idea:Assumption pair description, and link the issues with a “is a solution for” link type. This way, you will have each Idea/Assumption in you list view.

If you want to you these Idea:Assumption pair, maybe you could group this view by Tags in JPD. In this way, you could use use the Opportunity Issue Key as the tag.

Or you could have an Idea, and an Epic for each Assumption Test in another Jira Software project. Link the Idea with the Epics, and use the delivery progress field to match the Idea (Solution) with Epics (Assumptions).

I still think that the outcome could be a Goal, but if you choose to go for Advanced Roadmaps or Structure, the Outcome could be an Initiative issue type (Using the traditional Theme, Initiative, Epic, Story, Task hierarchy).

[Jonathan Blackburn]

@Helena Jeret-Mäe I've been playing around a bit with this following reading Teresa' book. 
I believe a lot of the power with OSTs is around the visualization - I see the WHOLE opportunity space and I see where I am focusing on. So I've tried using Miro/Figjam integrations with Jira/JPD to allow you to view the tree and latest data from Jira/JPD.

The lines here have no integration with Jira issue relationships but that might be possible in Miro, I just haven't invested in testing that out.

The way I've done it is to manually create the whole OST using stickies. Then only a select few we go and create in JPD via the "convert sticky to issue" widget. 

What you miss with this is that you can't bring in Goals yet - only issues. Also, the whiteboard integrations are not really set up for JPD so I think you'll be limited in the fields you can see beyond the core ones (e.g. summary, description, status).

Let me know what you think! I'm keen to learn more about other people's experiences!

[Mitesh Gala]

@Helena Jeret-MäeHave you been able to find an answer to your question yet? What did you end up using as a solution? Curious to know as I'm currently having similar challenges as you.