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Exploration Framework

Here at XMTP we lead with curiosity, and that extends deeply into how we think about building products. Our exploration framework is all about breaking ideas down from statements into curiosities. From here we're able to establish the ground truth of what we're exploring and interested in learning about.

In our product prioritization process, a concept can be considered "done" when the exploration framework has been written and some consensus has been reached.

The framework consists of two considerations: The Belief and The Questions:

The Belief​

  • What do we believe?
    • We believe that by doing ____
    • …it will result in ____
    • …and we will know we’re right when ____

The Questions​

  • What do we already know?
  • What do we want to learn?
  • What won't we know yet?
  • What can’t we know?

The belief question's purpose is to create consensus among a team around a belief that should be commonly held. This ensures that before work is started on something, at least everyone agrees on the basic premise, though there may be differences on specific execution.

The remaining questions allow everyone to come to consensus around the things that we already know, the things we’re trying to learn about, and the things that might not be knowable (yet).

While an individual might set this up initially, it’s important to re-consider these things in the context of the whole group later.