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Flagship Engagement · Independent Field Validation

Safety-Critical Field Validation Sprint

Test the complete product system, not just the device, under the environmental, human, connectivity, and operational conditions that expose real-world failures.

For teams that need independent evidence before a consequential design, launch, investment, or market-entry decision.

Typical duration3–6 weeks.
StructureFixed-scope project.
DeliveryLed directly by Patrick Scanlan.
LocationConducted in the White Mountains or at a client-relevant location.
TeamProject-specific specialists and representative users added when required.

The conditions that break products

Where the sprint runs

Based in North Conway, New Hampshire, Gravity Strategy can test products in sub-zero, wet, mountainous, low-connectivity, and rapidly changing field conditions. Projects can include carefully selected guides, avalanche professionals, rescuers, medical professionals, experienced users, and representative consumers.

Locations, permissions, safety plans, and participants are arranged on a project-specific basis. Gravity Strategy does not claim standing access to specific land, agencies, facilities, or personnel.

A five-stage validation sprint

01

Define the decision

Clarify the design, launch, investment, or market-entry decision the evidence needs to inform, and what would change the answer.

02

Map critical workflows and failure hypotheses

Lay out the critical user tasks, environments, handoffs, and downstream systems, and where the product system is most likely to break.

03

Design the test protocol

Build the scenarios, participant and user roles, and observation measures targeted at the highest-consequence hypotheses.

04

Conduct and document field testing

Run the protocol under real conditions, capturing structured observations and, when permitted, photo, video, and interaction evidence.

05

Deliver ranked findings and recommendations

Prioritize failure modes by severity and provide design, operational, and mitigation recommendations, plus an executive decision brief.

What makes this different from conventional field testing

Conventional field testing asks whether the device works. This engagement examines the interaction among the product, the user, the environment, connectivity, the organizational process, and the emergency-response system. Failures in safety-critical products rarely come from a single component. They emerge where those layers meet: a device that performs in the lab but is unusable with cold hands, a workflow that breaks when connectivity drops, a handoff that loses critical information between the user, dispatch, and responders. We test the whole system under the conditions where those seams are exposed.

Evidence for a consequential decision

Independent evidence, before the decision that matters.

A Field Validation Sprint surfaces and prioritizes real-world failure modes. It is not a certification, a regulatory approval, or a guarantee of product safety.