Continuous Discovery Habits

1. Continuous Discovery: The Key to Building Products Customers Want

At a minimum, weekly touchpoints with customers by the team building the product where they conduct small research activities in pursuit of a desired outcome.

Continuous discovery is a structured approach to product development that involves ongoing customer research and experimentation. It helps teams consistently deliver value by:

• Engaging with customers weekly to understand their evolving needs
• Conducting small, frequent research activities rather than large, infrequent studies
• Pursuing a clear desired outcome, not just shipping features
• Involving the whole product team (product manager, designer, engineer) in customer research

This approach allows teams to stay closely aligned with customer needs, adapt quickly to new information, and make evidence-based product decisions. By making discovery an ongoing habit rather than a one-time phase, teams can more reliably create products that customers truly want and use.

2. Focus on Outcomes, Not Outputs, to Drive Real Value

You are never one feature away from success...and you never will be.

Shift mindset from outputs to outcomes. This means:

• Defining success by the value created for customers and the business, not just features shipped
• Setting clear, measurable outcomes (e.g., increase customer retention by 10%)
• Allowing teams autonomy in how to achieve the outcome
• Regularly evaluating if product changes are driving the desired outcome

Benefits of an outcome focus:

• Aligns team efforts with business goals
• Encourages innovation in how to solve problems
• Allows for pivoting when initial solutions don't work
• Measures true impact, not just activity

By focusing on outcomes, teams avoid the "build trap" of endlessly shipping features without creating real value. They stay motivated by seeing the tangible impact of their work on customers and the business.

3. Map and Prioritize Customer Opportunities

Structure is complicated. It gets done, undone, and redone.

Create an opportunity solution tree. This visual tool helps teams:

• Map out the customer needs, pain points, and desires (opportunities)
• Structure opportunities hierarchically, from broad to specific
• Prioritize which opportunities to address first
• Generate and evaluate potential solutions

Steps to build and use the tree:

1. Start with the desired outcome at the top
2. Branch out to high-level opportunity areas
3. Break down each area into more specific opportunities
4. Assess opportunities based on:
   • Importance to customers
   • Potential impact on the outcome
   • Feasibility to address
5. Select a target opportunity to focus on
6. Generate multiple solution ideas for that opportunity

The tree provides a shared understanding of the problem space and helps teams make strategic decisions about where to focus their efforts. It's a living document that evolves as the team learns more about their customers and market.

4. Conduct Regular Customer Interviews to Uncover True Needs

People don't know what they want until you show it to them.

Interview to discover opportunities, not validate solutions. Key principles:

• Conduct weekly interviews to maintain a continuous learning loop
• Focus on collecting specific stories, not general opinions
• Ask about recent experiences, not hypothetical future behavior
• Listen for underlying needs, not just feature requests

Interview structure:

1. Set scope: Define what part of the customer experience to explore
2. Ask for a specific story: "Tell me about the last time you..."
3. Dig deeper: Use follow-up questions to understand context and motivations
4. Capture opportunities: Note needs, pain points, and desires expressed
5. Synthesize: Create an interview snapshot summarizing key insights

Regular interviewing helps teams stay connected to customer realities, catch emerging trends, and build empathy. It provides a constant stream of opportunities to inform product decisions.

5. Generate and Test Multiple Solution Ideas

Creative teams know that quantity is the best predictor of quality.

Ideate broadly, then focus. Approach:

1. Generate many ideas individually (aim for 15-20 per person)
2. Share ideas as a team and build on each other's concepts
3. Select a diverse set of 3 promising solutions to explore further

Benefits of multiple solutions:

• Increases chances of finding innovative approaches
• Reduces fixation on a single idea
• Allows for comparing and contrasting options

Testing process:

1. Create simple prototypes or mockups of each solution
2. Define clear evaluation criteria (e.g., "7 out of 10 users can complete the task")
3. Test with a small number of customers (5-10)
4. Compare results across solutions
5. Iterate or pivot based on learnings

By exploring multiple solutions in parallel, teams can more quickly identify winning ideas and avoid overcommitting to suboptimal approaches.

6. Identify and Test Critical Assumptions Early

Good tests kill flawed theories; we remain alive to guess again.

Surface and test risky assumptions. Steps:

1. List assumptions for each solution idea (desirability, viability, feasibility)
2. Map assumptions based on importance and uncertainty
3. Identify "leap of faith" assumptions (high importance, high uncertainty)
4. Design small experiments to test these critical assumptions
5. Set clear success criteria before running tests

Types of assumption tests:

• Smoke tests: Gauge interest before building (e.g., landing page sign-ups)
• Wizard of Oz: Simulate functionality manually
• Concierge: Provide high-touch service to early adopters
• Fake door: Measure clicks on non-existent features

Testing assumptions early helps teams:

• Validate or invalidate ideas quickly
• Reduce risk of building the wrong thing
• Learn and iterate faster
• Make data-informed decisions

By systematically identifying and testing assumptions, teams can increase their confidence in solution ideas before investing heavily in development.

7. Measure Impact Throughout Discovery and Delivery

Your delusions, no matter how convincing, will wither under the harsh light of data.

Instrument products to measure outcomes. Key steps:

1. Define clear metrics tied to your desired outcome
2. Implement analytics to track those metrics
3. Establish a baseline before making changes
4. Measure impact of each product iteration
5. Look for leading indicators of long-term outcomes

Types of metrics to consider:

• Product metrics: Directly measure product usage and behavior
• Business metrics: Measure impact on company goals (revenue, retention)
• Customer metrics: Measure customer satisfaction and success

Best practices:

• Start small: Don't try to measure everything at once
• Focus on actionable metrics that inform decisions
• Look for correlations between product changes and outcome metrics
• Be patient: Some impacts take time to materialize

Continuous measurement allows teams to:

• Validate if solutions are driving desired outcomes
• Identify areas for improvement
• Make data-driven prioritization decisions
• Demonstrate the value of their work to stakeholders

8. Manage Discovery Cycles and Course-Correct as Needed

Trusting the process can give you the confidence to take risks.

Embrace the messy reality of discovery. Key principles:

• Expect surprises and be prepared to pivot
• Break large opportunities into smaller, testable chunks
• Balance short-term wins with long-term strategic bets
• Recognize when to persevere and when to change direction

Common discovery scenarios:

1. Learning an opportunity isn't as important as initially thought
2. Realizing a solution is more complex than anticipated
3. Uncovering new constraints or requirements
4. Discovering unexpected customer behavior or preferences

When facing surprises:

1. Re-evaluate assumptions and hypotheses
2. Return to earlier steps in the discovery process if needed
3. Communicate changes and rationale to stakeholders
4. Look for alternative paths to the desired outcome

By staying flexible and responsive to new information, teams can navigate the inherent uncertainty of product development and find the best path to creating value.

9. Collaborate with Stakeholders by Showing Your Work

The more leaders can understand where teams are, the more they will step back and let teams execute.

Build trust through transparency. Strategies:

• Use visual artifacts (opportunity trees, story maps) to share thinking
• Start with the desired outcome, not just solutions
• Walk stakeholders through your discovery process and key decisions
• Invite input and co-creation at appropriate points

Benefits of stakeholder collaboration:

• Leverages diverse perspectives and expertise
• Builds buy-in for product decisions
• Reduces resistance to new ideas
• Aligns product work with broader business goals

Tips for effective stakeholder management:

• Tailor level of detail to each stakeholder's needs and interests
• Regular, brief updates are often better than infrequent, long presentations
• Be open to feedback, but use data and customer insights to support decisions
• Celebrate both successes and valuable failures

By actively involving stakeholders in the discovery process, teams can create a shared understanding of product strategy and increase organizational support for their work.

Last updated: September 6, 2024