Coaching practices for Check Your Assumptions
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Check Your Assumptions, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- My conclusion only makes sense because of a bunch of things I’m silently taking for granted about people and how the world works
- In my head the things I’m sure of and the things I’m just guessing at all run together as one blur, so I end up treating my assumptions like hard limits
- My conclusion feels airtight and yet something nags at me, and I think it’s that the whole thing only holds if a couple of unspoken things are true
- My plan feels solid until I notice it quietly depends on a whole stack of things just going my way
- I walked away from that meeting certain my boss is unhappy with me and certain the whole project is going to fall apart
Practices that may help
- Surface and examine the assumptions you are making
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
The Ladder of Inference - Separate facts from assumptions explicitly
Sort what you actually know from what you’re assuming, in two visible columns.
First-Principles Thinking, Made Usable - Surface and test underlying assumptions
Identify the implicit assumptions that your reasoning depends on and test whether they hold.
Socratic Questioning - Name the assumptions that must hold for the plan to work
Every plan rests on assumptions — list them and ask how likely each one is.
Margin of Safety - Rule out mind-reading and fortune-telling
Catch the two most common interpretation errors — assuming you know what someone is thinking, or what is about to happen.
Check the Facts, Made Practical - Map and stress-test your key assumptions
Before executing, list the assumptions the plan depends on — then ask which ones would kill it if wrong.
Red Teaming: Stress-Testing Plans Before They Fail - Default to assuming you’ve been misunderstood
After any important message, assume it landed differently than you intended — then check.
Closeness-Communication Bias - Question the question itself
Before answering a question, ask whether it is the right question and whether it is framed to produce useful answers.
Socratic Questioning - Surface the hidden premises
Find the unstated assumptions that the argument needs to work.
Argument Mapping - Make your constraints explicit before solving
Write out every assumption and rule you are treating as fixed — most problem-solvers carry invisible constraints they never surface.
Constraint Relaxation: Escaping the Walls You Built Yourself
Related concerns
- Hidden Assumptions
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
Surface and examine the assumptions you are making
- Assumption Audit
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
- Examine Assumptions
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
- Expose Hidden Assumptions
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
- Implicit Assumptions
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
- Making Assumptions Visible
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.