pol-probe

A disposable validation experiment is a lightweight, time-boxed PoL probe designed to surface harsh truths before investing in production software. It enforces a clear disposal plan and learnings documentation to de-risk decisions quickly and cheaply across technical feasibility or user task friction.

To run a disposable PoL probe, define a single falsifiable hypothesis, select one of five flavors (Feasibility Check, Task-Focused Test, Narrative Prototype, Synthetic Data Simulation, or Vibe-Coded PoL Probe), set a disposal plan, build the probe in 2-3 days, test with a small cohort, and dispose after documenting insights.

To set up a disposable prototype for stakeholder buy-in, use a Narrative Prototype PoL probe flavor. Build the lightweight probe in 2-3 days, run it with a small cohort to validate assumptions, and execute the disposal plan once learnings are documented to maintain a cheap, honest validation lifecycle.

PoL probes offer five flavors: Feasibility Check for technical viability, Task-Focused Test for user friction, Narrative Prototype for stakeholder buy-in, Synthetic Data Simulation for data-driven decisions, and Vibe-Coded PoL Probe for rapid disposable validation. Each requires a hypothesis and disposal plan.

The limitation of disposable validation experiments is that they narrowly test only one falsifiable hypothesis at a time within a strict 2-3 day build window. They require a lightweight tooling setup and are designed strictly for surfacing harsh truths, not for scaling into production software.