Start with the decision
A busy week is not necessarily a useful week. Before planning interviews, features, or a pitch, write down the decision you need to make. Should you commit to this buyer segment? Is the problem expensive enough to solve? Is a prototype the best way to reduce uncertainty? A clear decision makes it possible to identify the evidence that would change it.
Expose the assumption
Describe one belief as a claim that could be wrong. “Operations teams struggle with reporting” is broad. “An operations lead spends at least a working day each month reconciling supplier files” is specific enough to investigate. Name the population, behavior, and constraint. Rank claims by consequence if false, not by how easy they are to test.
Keep an evidence trail
Record the source, date, method, limitations, and observation separately from your interpretation. Three enthusiastic conversations are not three purchase commitments. A facilitated prototype test does not establish independent usability. Preserve contradictory observations; removing them produces a persuasive story but a poor decision record.
Close the loop
At the end of a test, state what changed and what remains unresolved. Choose to continue, revise, or stop. Assign a next action that resolves a named uncertainty rather than a generic task such as “do more research.” In the sample workspace, workflow pain is visible while budget ownership is not. The next move is therefore a buyer conversation, not a larger build.