Far too often, leaders rely on internal knowledge and experience instead of validating with real customers. This assumption-driven approach leads to poor decisions, wasted development cycles, and features that nobody needs. Many Product Owners and Managers are promoted from within and inherit outdated mindsets, making it difficult to envision new possibilities. 

The higher a leader rises, the more insulated they become from frontline realities. That’s why smart organizations embed continuous customer validation and cross-functional Advisorship into their product development culture. 

A powerful example comes from a restaurant onboarding overhaul, where rejecting a flawed internal automation idea in favor of direct user empathy led to a transformation from 3-month onboarding to 20 minutes. This success only happened because leadership validated real user needs rather than trusting legacy assumptions. 

To avoid assumption bias, organizations must build structured advisory feedback loops: 

• Internal advisory groups promote collaboration across departments and expose feasibility issues early. 

• External advisory groups bring in customer perspectives, market insight, and innovation fuel. 

To be effective, advisory groups must have clear goals, engaged members, structured facilitation, and follow-through on feedback. Avoid common traps like over-including, ignoring advice, or treating advisors as symbolic. Advisory loops should be curated, consistent, and respected, not performative.