The process of learning is a dynamic interplay between a hypothesis and the concrete interventions you put into the world. Whatever its scope, scale, purpose or context, an experiment consists of three elements that interact in loops:

• • The hypothesis frames the assumptions you have around a given challenge or opportunity.

• • The intervention is the concrete action you set in place to test and learn whether your assumptions are right or wrong.

• • The learning describes the insights you gain from the intervention that triggers new and more qualified hypotheses to be tested through new interventions (thus, a new loop starts).

Hypotheses are what drive experiments and learning and, therefore, enable us to navigate the unknown. A hypothesis is a preliminary explanation or a qualified guess, based on observations, existing knowledge or theories. Hence, your hypotheses are the specific assumptions, ideas and hunches that define how you approach a process. They describe what you think you know, but do not fully know or do not know enough about yet.

When creating your hypothesis, we stress that you, as a pathfinder, need to direct your awareness towards the preferred future that guides your transition process. And then towards the unknowns of this preferred future. In practice, this means collecting all the questions you are trying to answer, being aware of what you know, what you think you know, and what you are unsure of. Make sure to be critical towards your own answers and analysis. Building this expanded consciousness about the unknown and the unknown unknowns can help guide experimentation.