Glossary
Discovery Evidence Glossary
A practical glossary for product discovery evidence terms used to judge signals, patterns, confidence, and product decisions.
Use this glossary to keep discovery evidence language precise across research, synthesis, validation, roadmap planning, and AI-assisted product operations. The goal is to separate raw signals from evidence strong enough to support a product decision.
Terms
Discovery evidence
Discovery evidence is customer, market, behavioral, qualitative, quantitative, or operational information used to reduce uncertainty before a product decision.
Signal
A signal is a specific observation, quote, behavior, metric movement, or market event that may inform a product judgment.
Pattern
A pattern is a repeated signal across customers, contexts, data sources, or time periods that suggests a product problem or opportunity may be meaningful.
Validated need
A validated need is a customer problem supported by evidence that shows the need exists, matters, and has consequences for the customer or business.
Tested response
A tested response is a proposed product change, concept, prototype, workflow, or offer that has been evaluated against customer behavior, feedback, or outcome data.
Evidence gap
An evidence gap is an unresolved question or missing signal that limits confidence in a product decision.
Confidence level
Confidence level is the team's assessment of how strongly the available evidence supports a product judgment or next action.
Research synthesis
Research synthesis is the process of organizing discovery inputs into themes, patterns, insights, risks, and recommendations that can inform product decisions.
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