(2019-01-15) Maurya What Is The Right Fill Order For A Lean Canvas

Ash Maurya: What is the Right Fill Order for a Lean Canvas? I have finally uncovered the right fill order and I’m ready to reveal it. Are you ready? Wait for it… There is none

While idea generation shouldn’t be constrained with a fill order, there is an optimal ideal validation order.

An effective validation plan prioritizes the testing of your riskiest assumptions first. How do you uncover your riskiest assumptions? This is where a Lean Canvas, properly used, can help.

Instead of imposing a specific order, I now direct people to fill out their canvas by starting with their idea backstory.

ideas can always be traced back to one or more specific events or triggers that caused you to take action.

What were the first three boxes you filled? Where you start is quite telling.

Filling out a Lean Canvas is essentially stacking a chain of beliefs that build on each other. The early links in the chain constrain and shape your idea. Also, any faulty or weak assumptions early in the chain have a ripple effect.

*As you work through your chain of beliefs, categorize each one into on these buckets:

• a leap of faith (gut instinct),
• an anecdotal observation, or
• a fact (based on empirical data).*

For an idea to be successful, it needs to simultaneously address three types of risks: customer risk, market risk, and technical risk.

Make sure the starting links in your chain cover all three risks and that they are ideally grounded in factual data. If not, you know what to do next. Get some answers by running some learning experiments.