Lean UX Canvas

The Lean UX canvas is a tool presented by Jeff Gothelf back in 2016 and has been revised since then. The tool aims to help cross-functional teams establish a customer-centric conversation about the ongoing work.

Shift from Outputs to Outcomes

Offering a step-by-step approach, the tool provides a recipe for teams to focus on their work's why and ensure learning throughout the journey. A key strength is that it helps to raise questions, expose gaps, and name the key things that need to be learned next.

With a specific idea in mind, following the sequence as indicated by the numbers is helpful. Of course, refinements will happen over time, and the different aspects will also influence each other. But still, it’s a good idea to proceed as follows:

1. Name the business problem or business objective that shall be tackled

2. Define the metrics of how success will be measured

3. Only now take the user’s perspective and name the target user, be as specific as possible, and include as much context as possible

4. Describe the benefit from the user’s perspective, so why would they decide to use the new product or service?

5. Sketch ideas for solutions that solve the business problem and serve the user.

6. Formulate the hypothesis by combining the bits and pieces collected so far, creating statements such as: We believe that [business outcome] will be achieved if [user] achieves [benefit] with [solutions].

7. Understand that the above are just hypotheses. So, identify the most important, that is, riskiest, assumptions that need to be validated.

8. Finally, describe how to learn about these assumptions and which experiments to conduct.

Of course, information created with other tools can be reused here. For example, a value proposition canvas will contain valuable input for segments 3, 4, and 5. Also, the assumptions in step 7 will often relate to the Four Key Risks in Product Development.