BTTR
The Better Framework

Build it. Test it. Trash it. Repeat.

> RICE is dead. Start shipping.
Read the manifesto

Prioritization is dead. Here's what replaces it.

THE PROBLEM

Your prioritization framework is lying to you.

RICE, WSJF, ICE — they all weight effort and complexity. When AI collapses effort to near-zero, the RICE formula hits division by zero. When you can ship and measure in days, confidence scores are theater. The entire prioritization layer is waste.

ERR: DIVISION BY ZERO
BTTR replaces RICE
Reach × Impact → Signal
> stop scoring. start shipping.
RICE Score Calculator
Reach 8,000
Impact 2
Confidence 60%
Effort 3
RICE Score 3,200
drag effort to zero.
THE THESIS

AI didn't kill your job. It killed your excuses.

When AI can prototype anything in hours, the scoring, the stack-ranking, the roadmap negotiations, the quarterly planning theater — all waste. Building IS the validation. Every framework before BTTR assumed the process creates the insight. BTTR knows the insight creates the process.

🗑
RICE Reach × Impact × Confidence / Effort
↓
BTTR Reach × Impact → Signal
THE FRAMEWORK

The BTTR Cycle

Four phases. Your cadence. No scoring. Just evidence.

01
Build

Write a bet in 3 lines: problem, bet, test. AI builds, you direct. The prototype IS the proposal.

02
Test

Put it in front of real signals. Usage data, not stakeholder opinions in a conference room.

03
Trash

Didn't work? Kill it. When AI built it in an afternoon, sunk cost is a myth.

04
Repeat

Iterate or pivot. Take what you learned, start the next cycle. Every bet compounds insight.

> bttr build --ship-fast
THE CYCLE

Idea first. Process second.

Every cycle is three moves. The idea creates the process — not the other way around.

sharp cycle
IDEA: Show new users a personalized insight within 60 seconds of signup — onboarding should deliver value, not explain features.
BUILD: AI-generated onboarding flow that imports sample data and surfaces a personalized insight. Shipped in an afternoon.
SIGNAL: Rolled out to 15% of signups. Activation went from 12% to 14%. But insight-completers hit 38%. Right idea, wrong shape.
> concrete idea, working prototype, clear signal — iterate
vague cycle
IDEA: Make onboarding better.
BUILD: Redesign the onboarding screens. Took 3 sprints.
SIGNAL: Users said it "feels nicer." No metric moved.
> vague idea, over-built, no real signal — zombie feature
> the format
IDEA: [What you want to build and why it matters]
BUILD: [Ship it with AI — learn as you build]
SIGNAL: [Show it. What happened? Iterate, pivot, or trash.]
IN PRACTICE

Three cycles. Three weeks. Three answers.

Watch BTTR play out across a real product. Meet Pulse — a B2B analytics tool.

C1
"Show users a personalized insight within 60 seconds of signup"
Iterate
Build
New onboarding flow: imports sample data, generates personalized insight
1 day
Test
Rolled out to 15% of new signups. Measured activation over 4 days.
4 days
Signal
Activation: 12% → 14%. Not enough. But insight-completers: 38%
Decision
Right problem, wrong shape. 60% of users skipped the insight — it was buried in the UI.
> users who saw the insight loved it. users who didn't see it couldn't love it. fix the funnel.
C2
"Make the insight un-skippable — required step in onboarding"
Pivot
Build
Rebuilt onboarding: insight is step 1, not optional sidebar. AI refactored the flow.
0.5 days
Test
Same 15% holdout. 4 more days of data.
4 days
Signal
Activation hit 26%. Clear win — above the 20% threshold.
Decision
Activation solved. Don't over-optimize. Time to place a new bet on retention.
> bet paid off. activation is meaningfully solved. pivot to the next highest-value problem.
C3
"Send a 'your data changed' email at hour 48 to boost retention"
Trash
Build
Automated email pipeline: detect data change, generate insight, send personalized email.
1.5 days
Test
Triggered for all users who hadn't returned by hour 48. Measured 7-day retention.
7 days
Signal
Retention: 31% → 33%. Open rate 52%, click-through just 4%.
Decision
Users saw it but didn't care. Email isn't the right lever for retention. Kill it.
> the insight wasn't compelling enough to pull someone back. trash. rethink retention entirely.
Three cycles. Three weeks. One clear win, one iterated into success, one killed fast. In the old world, these would be three items on a roadmap debated for a quarter before any of them shipped.
THE CONTRAST

Two frameworks. Two philosophies.

RICE
"Should we build this?"
  1. Score features in a spreadsheet
  2. Debate estimates in committee
  3. Estimate effort and timeline
  4. Wait for the next sprint
  5. Ship quarterly, if lucky
  6. Discover you were wrong
BTTR
"Build it and find out."
  1. Write a bet: problem, bet, test
  2. Build the minimum to get signal
  3. Ship it — building IS the validation
  4. Measure real signals, not opinions
  5. Kill what doesn't work — zero sunk cost
  6. Repeat — iterate, pivot, or move on
THE LANDSCAPE

BTTR vs. Everything

How BTTR relates to the frameworks you already know.

Framework
Core Question
Decides By
Blind Spot
Verdict
RICE / WSJF / ICEPre-AI (2000s)
"What should we build?"
Spreadsheet scores
Build the wrong thing confidently.
Replaced
Lean Startup2011
"Should we build this?"
Validated learning
Front-loads research before action.
Evolved
A/B Testing2000s+
"Which option is better?"
Statistical significance
Optimizes locally, misses the big picture.
Absorbed
Design Thinking2000s
"Do we understand the problem?"
Empathy research
Research paralysis.
Complements
BTTR2024+
"What did we learn?"
Observed signal
Risk: trash too early. Mitigation: 3-cycle rule.
The standard
THE MANIFESTO

The BTTR Manifesto

01

Ship over spec.

If you can build it faster than you can describe it, build it.

02

Trash without guilt.

Killing what doesn't work is progress, not waste.

03

Bias toward concrete.

Prototypes over presentations. Evidence over projections.

04

Stay opinionated.

BTTR has a point of view. If that makes you uncomfortable, good.

05

Ideas first. Process second.

Every breakthrough started as a hunch, not a hypothesis. Einstein didn't score relativity in a spreadsheet. Truth isn't predicted — it's revealed through action. The idea creates the process, not the other way around.

Stop scoring. Start shipping.

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✓ signal cheatsheet included
> welcome to BTTR. stop scoring. start shipping.

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