🚀 Lesson Plan: Validating What You’ve Built – Usability & Functionality Testing

Module 8: Prototype Validation & Testing for Founders

Tagline: Revisiting Assumptions with Usability & Functionality Testing

🚀 Module Overview

This module explores how early-stage founders can validate their prototypes through rigorous usability and functionality testing. We will discuss how to differentiate between functionality testing (ensuring the product works as intended) and usability testing (ensuring users can intuitively use it). Additionally, we’ll cover strategies for refining assumptions, collecting honest feedback, and making necessary design pivots.

By the end of this module, founders will have a clear framework for validating their product’s effectiveness before launching it into the market.

💡 Key Learning Outcomes

✅ Understand the difference between functionality testing and usability testing.
✅ Learn strategies to conduct unbiased user testing and avoid confirmation bias.
✅ Develop a framework for structured prototype validation across different phases.
✅ Learn how to balance product iteration with strategic decision-making.
✅ Identify when a pivot is necessary and how to manage sunk costs.

🎙 Special Guests

👤 Raymond Combs – Faculty Professor at San Jose State, former Amazon Kindle and Palm Pilot designer.
👤 Keegan Evans – Founder of Euda, tech consultant, and experienced usability tester.

📌 Key Discussion Topics

1️⃣ Functionality vs. Usability Testing

🔹 Functionality Testing: Ensures that all hardware and software components work as intended.
🔹 Usability Testing: Ensures that the user experience is intuitive and meets customer expectations.
🔹 Testing Methods: Over-the-shoulder observation, beta testing, real-world use cases.

📌 Action Step: Conduct a small usability test—ask five people to use your product with minimal guidance and document their interactions.

2️⃣ Understanding the “Mom Test” & Confirmation Bias

🔹 The Mom Test: People often provide false positive feedback to be polite.
🔹 Use neutral prompts to extract honest feedback.
🔹 Observe hesitations, pauses, and struggles—these are critical usability issues.

📌 Action Step: Design 3 unbiased usability questions to ask testers without leading them to a desired answer.

3️⃣ Structured Prototype Validation – The Three Phases

🔹 Phase 1: Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) – Ensuring electronics and mechanics work.
🔹 Phase 2: Design Validation Testing (DVT) – Ensuring all components fit together in the final design.
🔹 Phase 3: Production Validation Testing (PVT) – Ensuring scalability for mass production.

📌 Action Step: Identify what stage your prototype is currently in and outline the next steps needed to move forward.

4️⃣ When to Pivot: Managing Sunk Costs & Decision-Making

🔹 Sunk cost fallacy: Don’t continue investing in a failing design just because you’ve already spent time/money on it.
🔹 Strategies for deciding when to pivot:

• Collect user feedback early and often.

• Use phased gates to move from prototype to production.

• Recognize market shifts that affect demand for your product.

📌 Action Step: Identify one major assumption about your product and develop a small experiment to validate or disprove it.

🛠 Actionable Takeaways & Frameworks

✅ Usability Testing Checklist
📌 Have you tested the product with at least 5 users?
📌 Are users struggling with any core features?
📌 Have you removed all leading questions from your testing?

✅ Functionality Testing Checklist
📌 Do all critical hardware/software components work as expected?
📌 Have you documented all known bugs and their status?
📌 Have you conducted at least one round of structured testing?

✅ Pivoting & Iteration Considerations
📌 Are users finding the core feature valuable?
📌 Do you have an unbiased method of gathering feedback?
📌 Have you documented at least one key design iteration based on real feedback?

🎯 Founder Challenges: Apply What You’ve Learned!

📌 1. Run a Quick Usability Test – Find 5 users, observe how they interact with your product, and document their struggles.
📌 2. Identify a Sunk Cost – Find an element of your product that may need to be reworked or abandoned and outline next steps.
📌 3. Create a Prototype Testing Plan – Define at least 3 functional tests and 3 usability tests for your next product iteration.

🚀 Next Steps & Resource Map

🔹 Connect with our expert guests on LinkedIn
🔹 Continue refining your prototype with structured usability testing
🔹 Start preparing for Module 9: Market Validation & Fundraising Strategies

RESOURCE MAP