Milestone 6 Action Plan: Research Your Creator Project Before You Build It
Gary Whittaker20 Milestones: From Project to Platform — Milestone 6 Action Plan
Free Beginner ImplementationResearch Your Creator Project Before You Build It
Turn the Milestone 6 lesson into one usable evidence record. Across seven focused sessions, verify important claims, capture audience language, compare five relevant alternatives and make a documented decision before detailed production.
You are not trying to prove guaranteed demand. You are gathering enough traceable evidence to decide whether the project direction should proceed, be revised, require more research or be held.
Correct progression
Establish Your Project’s Central Message
Test the message, topic and project assumptions
Choose the Primary Format and Delivery Model
Your finish line
One Research and Comparable-Project Record
3 credible subject sources
Enough to verify the most important claims or requirements.
3 meaningful audience signals
Repeated language, barriers or behaviour—not isolated noise.
5 balanced comparables
Different alternatives that reveal expectations, strengths and gaps.
1 documented decision
Proceed, proceed with conditions, revise, research further or hold.
Bring forward Milestones 1–5
Use existing decisions instead of restarting.
Project foundation
- One selected project
- Intended audience and situation
- Primary audience outcome
- Human contribution and source boundaries
- Central message and three supporting message pillars
Current project boundaries
- Current proposed first complete version
- Required components currently assumed
- Optional components currently assumed
- Items deliberately excluded for now
I am researching a [project type] for [audience], intended to help them [outcome]. Its central message is [message], supported by [three pillars]. The current proposed first complete version includes [boundaries].
Anti-drift rules
Keep research tied to a decision.
- Do not browse without a written question.
- Do not research the entire industry when one project decision is at stake.
- Do not treat rankings, popularity or visual polish as proof of suitability.
- Do not treat AI summaries as original evidence.
- Do not copy distinctive wording, examples, frameworks or structures.
- Do not continue collecting information after the next responsible decision is possible.
Seven focused sessions
Complete Milestone 6
Session 1
Frame the decision-focused research question
Purpose: Define what the research must help you decide.
Add two to four supporting questions
- Which important facts, rules or requirements must be verified?
- How does the audience describe the need and current workaround?
- Which alternatives already serve this need?
- What evidence could require a message, boundary or project revision?
Help me refine one decision-focused research question and up to four supporting questions for this project information: [paste]. Do not answer them. Flag questions that are broad, biased or not verifiable.
Session 2
Create the source plan and evidence log
Purpose: Find the right source for each claim.
Primary or official
Documentation, policies, legislation, original research and direct records.
Reputable supporting
Professional organizations, established journalism and specialist analysis.
Audience signals
Reviews, interviews, emails, queries, comments and support questions.
- Title, author or organization, URL and date
- Source type and question supported
- Key information and exact location
- Fact, observation, interpretation or lead
- Reliability concern and follow-up
Session 3
Capture audience language and behaviour
Purpose: Test whether your message and assumptions match the audience’s situation.
Record what people want, what blocks them, what they tried, why they stopped, what they distrust and what result they describe in their own words.
- Source, date and audience segment
- Exact wording or close paraphrase
- Need, barrier or workaround
- Experience and trust signal
- Repeated or isolated
- Possible message or project implication
Session 4
Select five balanced comparable projects
Purpose: Study the full environment the audience can choose from.
- Direct comparable: closest audience, outcome and format.
- Audience comparable: different format serving the same people.
- Format comparable: same format used for a related outcome.
- Established example: useful for expectations, depth and trust.
- Free or independent alternative: a realistic substitute or production reference.
Session 5
Analyze every comparable consistently
| Dimension | What to record |
|---|---|
| Audience and promise | Who it serves, problem described and result promised |
| Message and positioning | Central idea, supporting themes, distinction and limits |
| Scope and experience | Components, sequence, depth and apparent user journey |
| Access and support | Price, free access, updates, community or direct help |
| Trust and evidence | Authority, demonstrations, sources and responsible boundaries |
| Audience response | Repeated praise, criticism, unmet expectations and unknowns |
| Project lesson | Strongest feature, visible weakness, burden and relevant lesson |
Session 6
Synthesize patterns, contradictions and a possible gap
Patterns
- Repeated audience needs
- Dominant promises, messages or formats
- Common praise and criticism
- Support frequently missing
Contradictions
- Claims versus reviews
- Official facts versus common belief
- Simple promise versus complex delivery
- Premium access versus limited support
Label the gap strongly supported, moderately supported or speculative. Reject claims such as “no one has done this,” “mine will be better” or “the market is huge” without evidence.
Session 7
Revise the project and record the decision
Proceed
The project direction remains credible and sufficiently supported.
Proceed with conditions
Move after named checks, permissions or boundary controls.
Revise
Change the audience, outcome, central message, boundaries or assumptions.
Research further
A critical question remains unanswered.
Hold
The current project should not move forward yet.
- Final decision and evidence supporting it
- What was confirmed, challenged and changed
- Remaining uncertainty and conditions
- Claims that can and cannot be made
- Updated central message or message pillars, if required
- Updated current project scope and boundaries
- Evidence Milestone 7 must use when choosing format
- Immediate next action
Copyable working document
Milestone 6 Research and Comparable-Project Record
A. Project foundation
Project, audience, outcome, human contribution, central message, message pillars and current boundaries.
B. Research questions
Primary question, supporting questions, decision and boundary.
C. Source evidence
Source details, date, type, question supported, key information and concern.
D. Audience signals
Language, barrier, workaround, trust, repetition and implication.
E. Comparable shortlist
Five projects, categories, audiences, promises, messages, formats and reasons selected.
F. Comparable matrix
Message, scope, access, support, evidence, response, weakness and lesson.
G. Findings
Patterns, contradiction, unresolved question, gap and confidence level.
H. Decision
Revision, final decision, conditions, updated project direction and next action.
Quality standard
Before marking Milestone 6 complete
- Every major conclusion is traceable.
- Every source serves a defined question.
- Facts, signals, interpretations and assumptions are separated.
- Audience evidence includes repeated meaning.
- The comparable set is balanced.
- All comparables use consistent dimensions.
- The proposed gap is labelled by confidence.
- No distinctive expression was copied.
- The central message, pillars or current project boundaries were confirmed or revised.
- Remaining uncertainty is visible.
- One documented decision was made.
Responsible AI assistance
Use AI to organize evidence—not replace it.
Appropriate support
- Refine questions
- Classify supplied notes
- Compare completed records
- Surface contradictions
- Identify unsupported assumptions
Unacceptable substitution
- Invent sources or dates
- Fabricate audience evidence
- Replace official documentation
- Declare unsupported demand
- Copy another creator’s expression
Free completion step
Save the record and prepare for Milestone 7
Save the completed record with your project files. Update the audience, outcome, human-contribution, central-message or project-boundary records wherever the evidence changed them. Milestone 7 will use this evidence to choose the primary format and delivery model.
Optional advanced path
Need stronger validation controls?
The free action plan is enough to complete the beginner milestone. The VIP system adds source scoring, an evidence ledger, contradiction tracking, risk review, positioning analysis, validation tests and a formal decision memorandum for higher-investment or rights-sensitive projects.
Frequently asked questions
Milestone 6 Action Plan FAQ
How long should the plan take?
Use seven separate sessions or combine them. Depth should reflect project complexity and the consequence of getting important information wrong.
Do I need exactly five comparables?
Five is a manageable beginner set. Complex or high-investment projects may need more.
What if there is no direct comparable?
Use audience, outcome, format or access-model comparables. An identical project is not required.
Can comments prove demand?
No. They may reveal language, experience and barriers, but stronger behavioural evidence is needed to establish demand.
What if the research weakens my idea?
That is a useful result. Revise or hold the project before detailed production consumes more resources.
Can AI complete the matrix?
AI may organize information you supply. You remain responsible for source verification, context and conclusions.
How do I know when to stop?
Stop when the primary question can support the next responsible decision and important uncertainty is recorded.
