Free tools Decision tool

Idea test planner

Turn an idea into a question with a wrong answer worth knowing, weigh the evidence you already have, and leave with the smallest honest test that could settle it. It starts filled in with an example; replace any part with your own.

01 The question

A bet you cannot be wrong about is not a bet.

A group specific enough that you could find five of them this week.

The workaround that already exists. Real problems leave traces.

One behaviour, in the smallest form you would still call a win.

02 The evidence you already have

Not how good the idea is — how much of it the world has already told you.

Cost today 3 / 5 How much does the workaround already cost them — time, money, or asking for help?
Frequency 3 / 5 How often does the problem actually show up?
Reachability 3 / 5 Could you get five of these people on a call this week?
Unfair insight 3 / 5 Do you know something about this that most people building here would miss?
The question

Today, freelance designers keep a manual spreadsheet of what they owe people. The bet is that they will start each week from one clear priority instead. Will they?

Evidence you already have

60/ 100

The smallest honest test

Deliver it by hand for two weeks

Do
For two weeks, produce the outcome manually for five freelance designers, so they start each week from one clear priority without any software existing.
Measure
Unprompted returns in the second week.
Threshold
Three of the five come back without a reminder.
Then
If they come back, build only the part you got tired of doing by hand.

Write the threshold down before you start. Optimism is a gifted editor of inconvenient results.

Before you ask

How it behaves.

How does the idea test planner score an idea?

It does not score the idea — it scores the evidence you already hold about it. You rate four things from one to five: what the problem costs people today, how often it happens, whether you could reach five of those people this week, and whether you hold an insight most builders would miss. The four ratings scale to a number out of 100, and that number only decides which test comes next, never whether the idea is any good.

Does the idea test planner store or send my idea anywhere?

No. The planner is plain JavaScript running on the page. Nothing you type is transmitted, saved, or logged, there is no account, and closing the tab discards it. The copy button puts the plan on your own clipboard and nowhere else.