Assumptions are everywhere in how we humans see the world. In any situation we find ourselves in, there’s way more information to experience and process than we can handle. It is human nature to fill in the gaps with what we think is true.

一个 ssumptions到处都是我们人类如何看世界。 在任何情况下，我们都会发现自己遇到的各种经验和流程信息超出了我们的处理能力。 用我们认为的真实来填补空白是人类的天性。

“Making assumptions allows us to make sense of something when we get limited information. […] Every part of a thing you imagine exists, but aren’t directly perceiving, is an assumption.” from Step by Step Guide to Stand Up Comedy by Greg Dean

做出假设可以使我们在获得有限信息时有所了解。 […]您想象的事物的每个部分都存在，但没有直接感知，是一种假设。” 从格雷格·迪恩(Greg Dean)的逐步指南到站起来的喜剧

Now I’m not here to give assumptions a bad name, quite the opposite. Assumptions are especially helpful with two things I like: collaborating and telling jokes. First, let’s consider jokes.

现在，我不是要给假设起一个不好的名字，相反。 假设对我喜欢的两件事特别有帮助：协作和讲笑话。 首先，让我们考虑一下笑话。

Two kids were camping in the backyard. Late at night they started wondering what time it was. “Start singing really loudly,” one of them suggested. “How will that help?” the other asked. “Just do it,” insisted the first. They both started singing loudly as they could. Moments later, a neighbor threw open their window and shouted, “KEEP IT DOWN! DON’T YOU KNOW IT’S THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING?” adapted from Jokelopedia: The biggest, silliest, dumbest joke book ever by Ilana Weitzman, Eva Blank, Alison Benjamin, Rosanne Green

两个孩子在后院露营。 深夜，他们开始想知道现在几点了。 其中一位建议：“开始大声唱歌。” “那有什么帮助？” 另一个问。 “坚持下去，”第一位坚持。 他们俩都开始大声唱歌。 片刻之后，一个邻居扔开了窗户，大喊：“保持下去！ 您不知道早上三点钟吗？” 改编自Jokelopedia：Ilana Weitzman，Eva Blank，Alison Benjamin，Rosanne Green有史以来最大，最愚蠢的笑话书

To help my pursuit of making comics, I’ve dabbled with studying humor and how jokes work. To tell jokes, we need assumptions. Being in the audience listening to a joke everyone is united by assumptions.

为了帮助我制作漫画 ，我涉猎幽默以及笑话的工作原理。 讲笑话，我们需要假设。 在听众的笑声中，每个人都被假设结合在一起。

This mechanism of assuming gives us the joke format. In the joke format, you have 2 stories. One is a premise that is actually hidden until later, the punch line. What you start out telling is a framing inviting others to begin assuming.

这种假设机制给了我们玩笑的格式。 在笑话格式中，您有2个故事。 一个是前提，实际上一直隐藏到以后，即打Kong线。 您开始讲的是一个框架，邀请其他人开始假设。

使用假设设计和制造产品 (Designing and making products using assumptions)

As individuals we make assumptions all the time, one of my favorites is “blank will be easy”. Where blank is anything from “this meeting” to “getting funding” or “getting the word out”.

作为个人，我们一直都在做假设，我的最爱之一是“ 空白将很容易”。 从“本次会议”到“获得资金”或“言出必行”，什么都是空白 。

As we collaborate in groups to design and build things we bring our assumptions with us. It’s easy and natural to assume to fill in the blanks about other people’s work. We make assumptions about someone else’s job, the shared purpose we have together, choices other collaborators will make and that’s just for starters.

当我们分组合作设计和建造东西时，我们带来了我们的假设。 假设要填补其他人的工作空白是很容易和自然的。 我们对其他人的工作，共同的目标，其他合作者将做出的选择进行假设，而这只是针对初学者的。

So how can all that assuming be a good thing?

那么所有这些假设怎么会是一件好事呢？

Let’s consider assumptions as something that happens in a timeline. Assumptions work great for us as we’re starting out understanding a problem we’re working on. Then unexplored assumptions take the blame for us if we only notice them later in our creative process.

让我们将假设视为在时间表中发生的事情。 假设对于我们来说非常有用，因为我们开始了解我们正在处理的问题。 如果我们在创作过程的后期才注意到未探究的假设，那我们就应该承担责任。

在合作初期充分利用各种假设 (Make the most of assumptions early in collaborations)

Assumptions help us get started with working together. Let’s say you’re kicking off a project and it’s time to build clarity for what you’re working on together, why, and how.

假设可以帮助我们开始一起工作。 假设您正在启动一个项目，是时候让您清楚地了解正在共同努力的内容，原因和方式。

If you are leading facilitation, design, or product you’ll likely present much of what, and why, maybe even some of the how. Presenting needs, evidence, and research can feel like you’ve presented one story that everyone will understand. This is where if you are not explicit with your assumptions and the assumptions the team is making then you could end up with 2 or more storylines going on at the same time. But in this case the punchline is not as funny. Ask some questions of the group to bring everyone closer together on the same focus and purpose. It’s a great time to explore assumptions and clarify.

如果您是领导简化，设计或产品的领导者，那么您可能会介绍很多内容以及原因，甚至可能还会介绍一些方法。 提出需求，证据和研究感觉就像您已经提出了一个每个人都会理解的故事。 在这里，如果您对自己的假设和团队所做的假设不明确，则最终可能同时发生两个或两个以上的故事情节。 但是，在这种情况下，重点不是那么有趣。 向小组提出一些问题，使每个人在相同的重点和目标上更加团结。 现在是探索假设并进行澄清的好时机。

分组探索假设 (Explore assumptions as a group)

Hand out markers and sticky notes and give everyone limited quiet time to individually capture their thoughts and answers to 3-step questions (coming up).

分发标记和便签，给每个人有限的安静时间，分别记录他们的想法和对3步问题的回答(即将出现)。

Gather and explore the team’s assumptions building from a general purpose in step 1, to more focus in step 2, and ultimately what assumptions need further investigation in step 3.

收集并探索团队的假设，从步骤1的一般目的到步骤2的更多重点，最后是步骤3中需要进一步调查的假设。

• Step 1: Describe a problem you want to solve/core project concept and ask everyone: What makes you feel confident about solving/making this?

  步骤1：描述您要解决/核心项目概念的问题，然后问大家：是什么让您对解决/做出自信？

• Step 2: What makes you unsure about solving this?

  步骤2：是什么让您不确定要解决此问题？

• Step 3: What would help our chances of success with this?

  步骤3：什么可以帮助我们成功实现这一目标？

If you’re working remotely or without sticky notes, you can adapt a remote document tool of choice like any of the Google Suite or even Trello or messaging tools. Anywhere the group is feeling comfortable enough to capture their thoughts with little self editing.

如果您是远程工作或没有便签，则可以改编选择的远程文档工具，例如Google Suite甚至Trello或消息工具。 小组中的任何人都感到很舒服，几乎不需要自我编辑就可以捕捉他们的想法。

与假设脱节可能会出错。 (Disconnecting from assumptions is where things can go wrong.)

We need assumptions to help move forward together. It’s understandable that we’re not always comfortable to share the things we are not confident about. Because we are admitting we may not know the answers. Yet if we are willing to try, assumptions will lead us to useful questions.

我们需要一些假设，以帮助共同前进。 可以理解，我们并不总是乐于分享我们不确定的事情。 因为我们承认我们可能不知道答案。 但是，如果我们愿意尝试，那么假设将使我们提出一些有用的问题。

因此，让我们重新构造假设。 就像讲笑话的人一样。 (So let’s reframe assumptions. Just like joke tellers do.)

You are a team facing a project, fixing a problem users are having with your website or it could be falling behind in expected downloads of your application. Maybe your service’s user onboarding process is not as strong as it could be. In any case you’re a team, with an overall purpose and a specific problem to face.

您是一个正在面对一个项目的团队，它正在解决用户在您的网站上遇到的问题，或者它可能在预期的应用程序下载中落后。 也许您的服务的用户入职流程不够强大。 无论如何，您都是一个团队，要有一个总体目标和一个特定的问题要面对。

Let’s say we’re concerned about app downloads and meet as a team to discuss what to do. At the start we may have all separate assumptions ranging from:

假设我们担心应用程序下载，并作为一个团队开会讨论如何做。 首先，我们可能有所有单独的假设，包括：

• One person wants to change the product description一个人想要更改产品说明
• Another may have some clickstream data concerns about the download button另一个人可能对下载按钮有一些点击流数据的担忧
• While another person feels sure it’s time to revamp the whole look of the store’s user interface另一个人认为是时候该修改商店的用户界面了

Using the steps above we can go from not knowing one another’s assumptions to seeing them together in one place. Steps 1 and 2 can reveal assumptions to look into and 3 can help with choosing where to go next together.

使用上面的步骤，我们可以从不了解彼此的假设变为将他们放在一个地方。 步骤1和2可以揭示要研究的假设，而步骤3可以帮助选择下一步要一起去的地方。

You and your team will create at least two powerful collaborative outcomes:

您和您的团队将至少创造两个强大的协作成果：

• You’ll learn one another’s assumptions您将了解彼此的假设
• You’ll have more focus on which assumptions to explore first您将更加关注首先探索哪些假设

假设使我们有一个开始探索故事的地方。 (Assumptions give us a place to begin exploring a story.)

We can use our assumption powers to help understand what we think about a project, our collective concerns, or to tell a joke. So much benefit from a natural thing we all do.

我们可以利用假设能力来帮助理解我们对项目的看法，我们的集体关注或开个玩笑。 我们所有人都从自然中受益匪浅。