Written Communication Jul 2026 Open Access

Testing the Battery: How a Startup’s Design Objects Cohere as a Fractional Object

Clay Spinuzzi The University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

This article tells a story about two methodologies, one used to examine the workings of the other. The examined methodology, the build-measure-learn loop used in Lean Startup, is a design methodology: It involves developing a series of design objects and using them to elicit feedback from huddles of stakeholders in a series of dialogical encounters. But unlike most design methodologies used in technical and professional communication, which assume that both stakeholders and propositions constitute stable categories, this one tests different propositions with different compositions of stakeholders during each cycle. Thus, it disrupts the incrementalist assumptions that underpin conventional design methodologies. To examine the build-measure-loop in action, we require an examining methodology that guides our conceptual decision about what to study. In this article, I use a compositional methodology to offer one such conceptual decision: the fractional object , which is made to cohere across diverse dialogic cycles, with different huddles, evaluating different claims. I apply this examining methodology to a 7-year study of a device developed by an early-stage technology startup. The study has implications for both design methodology and case study methodology.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2026-07-19
DOI
10.1177/07410883261461546
CompPile
Open Access
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