BehavioralStrategy.com teaching pack v1.0
Author: Jason Hreha
Source file: education/solo-practice.md
License for original text: CC BY 4.0. External sources retain their rights.
Editable text copy; Markdown headings and tables are retained.

# Practice on your own

Use one public case to practice making a decision under incomplete evidence. You need the [decision workbook](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/decision-workbook/) and a place to write. The [download pack](https://behavioralstrategy.com/downloads/#public-teaching-pack) includes printable and editable versions. No registration or submission is required.

Allow about 60 minutes for a first attempt. This is a planning estimate; use more time where needed. The shorter workbook timing excludes reading the case and comparing the worked analysis.

## First choose a case

Start with [M-PESA](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/mpesa-decision/) if you are new to the method. It includes two defensible worked responses to the same decision. Choose [Instagram](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/instagram-decision/) to examine a product focus decision, or [GOV.UK Verify](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/verify-decision/) to examine a service whose intermediate and final outcomes can diverge.

Read only the student packet first. If you already know the organization's history, write that knowledge in a separate note. Use the evidence in the packet for the exercise, and disclose any later information you add.

## Make your decision

1. Spend roughly 10 minutes reading. Mark one historical observation, one interpretation, and one unresolved question.
2. Spend roughly 35 minutes on the workbook's eight steps. Generate alternatives before selecting one. Record who supplies each necessary action and support task.
3. Write a recommendation that another person could act on: the population, target behavior, proposed test, acceptable support, measurement window, and result that would change the decision.
4. Save that first response before reading the worked analysis. A timestamp or a second document is enough; there is no need to submit it anywhere.

## Compare and revise

Use about 10 minutes to read the worked analysis. For M-PESA, compare both responses. Use the [discussion rubric](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/teaching-notes/#discussion-rubric) to review your reasoning. Do not award yourself a point merely for choosing what the organization later did.

Write three short notes: what you would retain, what you would change, and what still cannot be decided. If the worked response seems wrong, name the factual or logical disagreement and the evidence that would settle it.

## Check transfer

Use the remaining five minutes on a different case or an ordinary process you know well. State an outcome, a candidate behavior, an alternative that removes user work, and one observation that could reject your first choice. Keep confidential or identifying details out of a shared copy.

For a second session, complete the [measurement lab](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/measurement-lab/) before opening its answers. It uses clearly fictional records to practice denominators and support accounting. The Wikipedia and EITC source exercises show why a favorable or null result needs its exact population, intervention, and outcome attached.

## What counts as progress

Look for a clearer action, a stronger alternative, a more complete actor chain, and a test whose failure you could recognize. These are useful changes in a written decision. They do not establish your competence in every setting, a treatment effect from the lesson, or validation of the integrated framework.

Original teaching content: Jason Hreha, BehavioralStrategy.com, teaching pack v1.0 (2026). [CC BY 4.0](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/teaching-notes/#reuse-and-adaptation).
