Mom Test

---
name: mom-test
description: 'Talk to customers without leading them using Mom Test rules: discuss their life not your idea, ask about specifics in the past, and talk less. Use when the user mentions "customer interviews", "validate my idea", "users say they want it but dont buy", "leading questions", "The Mom Test", "customer feedback bias", or "interview script". Also trigger when preparing user-research questions, interpreting ambiguous feedback, or designing customer-discovery that avoids false positives. Covers commitment and advancement, avoiding compliments, and extracting signal from noise. For product-market fit, see jobs-to-be-done. For rapid prototype testing, see design-sprint.'
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: wondelai
  version: "1.4.0"
---

# The Mom Test Framework

Framework for customer conversations that won't lead you astray, based on a fundamental truth: everyone is lying to you -- not maliciously, but because you're asking the wrong questions. The Mom Test provides rules for asking questions so good that even your mom can't lie to you.

## Core Principle

**Good customer conversations are about their life, not your idea.** The moment you mention what you're building, people switch from sharing truth to performing politeness. Talk about their problems, their lives, and their existing behavior instead of pitching, and ask about specifics in the past, not hypotheticals about the future. Above all, talk less and listen more.

## Scoring

**Goal: 7/7.** Score a conversation (or interview plan) by the seven-row Quick Diagnostic below: **1 point per row that passes.**
- **6-7** = focused on their life and past behavior, concrete facts captured, a real commitment (time/reputation/money) secured, they talked 80%+, and beliefs got updated.
- **4-5** = some past-behavior facts but leaking into hypotheticals, compliments accepted as signal, or ending without an ask.
- **<=3** = a pitch in disguise: leading questions, opinions and fluff, a polite zombie lead, no learning.

Always state the current score out of 7, name the failing diagnostic rows, and give the specific fix for each.… load the full skill through Skill Me