Innovation · Experiments · Component

Learning record

What each test found and what was decided because of it, kept for the failed tests as carefully as for the ones that passed.

The deliverable

What it is

Tests that are not recorded are run again. A learning record is what lets someone ask, a year later, whether an idea was already tried and what happened.

It also shows the organisation how it learns. A record full of passes and no failures suggests the tests were designed to pass.

One level in

What it is made of

Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.

  1. Result

    What was observed, in the same unit as the pass threshold, and whether the hypothesis passed, failed or was inconclusive.

    3 attributes: Observed · Outcome · Completed

    Learn
  2. Evidence

    Where the underlying data or notes are kept, so the result can be checked or re-read by someone who was not there.

    2 attributes: Source · Raw material

    Learn
  3. Decision taken

    What the team decided because of the result — persevere, change course or stop — and why that followed from it.

    2 attributes: Decision · Reason

    Learn

Search the record before designing a test. A surprising share of new ideas have been tested before, under another name.