Keep One Page per Test That Informs a Decision So the Next Person Can Use It

Acceptance Evidence Record template

The chapter “Keep an Acceptance Evidence Record for Every Test That Informs a Decision” explains the fields. Skip the record if the test would not change a decision.

Field	Your entry
Record ID and date
Versions: product, message, pricing when relevant, ICP
Actor and path stage
Hypothesis (in full), with refutation rule
Expected behavior
Observed behavior
Qualitative evidence: quotes, notes, recordings
Quantitative evidence, with denominators
Interventions: every rescue, by category and actor
Failure and its type: where the path broke, and whether the cause was a defect in the software or a failed assumption
Possible explanation
Competing explanation
Confidence, with a reason
Required change: the smallest change the evidence supports
Retest criteria
Source and provenance: who ran it, where the data is, whether AI drafted or summarized any part

Field

Your entry

Record ID and date

Versions: product, message, pricing when relevant, ICP

Actor and path stage

Hypothesis (in full), with refutation rule

Expected behavior

Observed behavior

Qualitative evidence: quotes, notes, recordings

Quantitative evidence, with denominators

Interventions: every rescue, by category and actor

Failure and its type: where the path broke, and whether the cause was a defect in the software or a failed assumption

Possible explanation

Competing explanation

Confidence, with a reason

Required change: the smallest change the evidence supports

Retest criteria

Source and provenance: who ran it, where the data is, whether AI drafted or summarized any part

A completed example (illustrative)

Field	Entry
Record ID and date	AER-014, 2026-10-12
Versions	Product 4.2, message v3, pricing v2, ICP v2
Actor and path stage	Practice manager, setup
Hypothesis	A practice manager at a twelve-physician group completes setup from the ad, with the practice’s own scheduling data and no rescue, in one working day. Refuted if five or more of twelve stall.
Expected behavior	Setup in under a day; first intake in under five minutes.
Observed behavior	Setup took three days. The first intake took eleven minutes on day four.
Interventions	Setup rescue by customer success, six hours, unplanned.
Failure and its type	The path broke at the schedule export. Failed assumption: the practice knew to export first.
Competing explanation	This practice’s schedule data was unusually messy.
Confidence	Low: one of a planned twelve practices.
Required change	Change the claim to “ready in one week” and build the import step.
Retest criteria	The import step ships, or the claim changes again.

Field

Entry

Record ID and date

AER-014, 2026-10-12

Versions

Product 4.2, message v3, pricing v2, ICP v2

Actor and path stage

Practice manager, setup

Hypothesis

A practice manager at a twelve-physician group completes setup from the ad, with the practice’s own scheduling data and no rescue, in one working day. Refuted if five or more of twelve stall.

Expected behavior

Setup in under a day; first intake in under five minutes.

Observed behavior

Setup took three days. The first intake took eleven minutes on day four.

Interventions

Setup rescue by customer success, six hours, unplanned.

Failure and its type

The path broke at the schedule export. Failed assumption: the practice knew to export first.

Competing explanation

This practice’s schedule data was unusually messy.

Confidence

Low: one of a planned twelve practices.

Required change

Change the claim to “ready in one week” and build the import step.

Retest criteria

The import step ships, or the claim changes again.

Confidence levels

Low: a single test, or known confounders that were not ruled out.
Medium: repeated observations in a small or narrow sample.
High: consistent results across several segments and conditions.

Write the reason next to the level. “Medium” alone says nothing.