Free one-page field guide

The Duct-Tape Test

A free one-page field guide for getting one idea out of your head this week: one idea, one week, under $20, in front of one real stranger.

One page. One week. Under $20.

The Duct-Tape Test is a one-page field guide for getting one idea out of your head and in front of a real person this week. Three steps, no business plan:

Fake It: make the cheapest version someone can see or react to.
Make It: build the scrappy version for under $20.
Break It: put it in front of one real stranger and listen.

There's a worksheet on the next page. Print it, fill it in, and tell me how it went.

Get the free Duct-Tape Test

Written in public, on purpose

I'm writing a book called Worth Building where I can: talking into my phone in a car wash, in parking lots, before sunrise while the house is still quiet. Not in ideal conditions. In real ones.

It isn't finished, and that's on purpose. I'm testing whether it's worth building, with readers, before I sink years into it. The Duct-Tape Test is the first piece.

Who's writing this

I teach design thinking and make things in Colorado. I'm a Milken Educator and a Senior Stanford FabLearn Fellow, and I've spent my career helping teachers, schools and companies build things worth building. I still have a basement full of ideas. This book is me sorting mine, out loud.

Send me the Duct-Tape Test