Your Crew

You have the vision and you know where you're going. What you're building toward is a crew. Here's who shows up.

Your squad

The testers. Each one recruited from a real person — their backstory, what they want, and the point where they give up. They're the ones who go on missions and come back with what happened.

A squad of one is exactly as good as a squad of ten. Paying buys more members, not better methodology.

The moderator

Runs the room during a round. Keeps the session honest, asks the follow-up when something interesting happens, and makes sure what you get back is a real session rather than a transcript dump.

The steward

Reviews your live product against the intent you've adopted for it, as your proxy — the pass a thoughtful product owner would make. It comes back with findings, recommendations, and the questions it thinks you should answer.

The ledger

Not a person, but the one that remembers. Every round, every result, every session, and the model pinned to the run. It's what turns "how are we doing?" from a feeling into a line you can look at.

You brief them. They go. They come back and tell you what actually happened, including the parts you didn't want to hear.