Hopes & Fears
Create empathy and shared excitement for new initiatives
Hopes and Fears is a group exercise that helps create empathy and shared excitement for new initiatives. It takes the tension and uncertainty out of a launch by putting all concerns and aspirations out in the open right from the start.
Hopes
What outcomes are team members excited about? What success looks like for this initiative? This could include user adoption goals, business metrics, technical achievements, or personal growth opportunities from working on this initiative.
Fears
Potential risks and challenges the team wants to avoid. This might include technical debt, user experience issues, market timing concerns, resource constraints, or lessons learned from previous product launches.
See It In Action
Check out this real session from a team at a large tech company.
Live Presentation Demo
After collecting the team's hopes and fears, this is how participants see each submission during the facilitated discussion. During real sessions, participants can vote and comment in real-time while the facilitator presents each submission.
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The Process
Collection Phase
Team members anonymously submit their hopes and fears about the initiative
Presentation Phase
The facilitator presents each submission while participants vote and comment in real-time
Results
High-voted hopes become product success criteria, top fears become risk mitigation priorities for the roadmap
How Does This Help?
Aligns product vision
When you see your product concerns echoed by other team members, it builds shared understanding
Enables proactive planning
Identifying potential product risks early allows teams to build mitigation into the roadmap
Drives motivation
Hearing everyone's product ambitions and user impact goals can be very energizing
Improves collaboration
Understanding what product outcomes matter to each team member enhances cross-functional work
Who would find Hopes and Fears helpful?
This exercise is helpful for any team or group about to begin a new product initiative, project, quarter, sprint, or any other collaborative process. For maximum impact, it's important to involve every team member (if possible).
Tips for Participants
- Be honest and specific about your product hopes and concerns
- Consider user impact, business goals, and technical feasibility
- Think about lessons learned from previous product launches
- Vote and comment thoughtfully during the presentation
- Remember: this is about product alignment, not judgment