Build better products with continuous product discovery

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Key Takeaways

Discovery is Continuous: Discovery and delivery are not separate phases; they happen simultaneously. Continuous Discovery helps teams make better bets over time.
Opportunity Solution Tree: A visual framework to map outcomes, opportunities, and solutions. It helps teams prioritize and align around customer needs.
Interviewing is Critical: Collecting rich customer stories is essential for identifying unmet needs, pain points, and desires. Avoid direct questions; focus on storytelling.
Small Bets, Big Impact: Every backlog item is a bet. Discovery helps refine these bets, but risky bets are sometimes necessary. Balance discovery with delivery.
Automate Customer Interviews: Use tools to automate recruiting and scheduling customer interviews. Make it easy to talk to customers weekly.
Collaborative Decision-Making: Product trios (PM, designer, engineer) should work together to make decisions, reducing silos and improving outcomes.
Assumption Testing: Break ideas into underlying assumptions, prioritize them, and run small, sustainable tests to validate solutions.

Guest: Teresa Torres, author of Continuous Discovery Habits and a leading product coach.
Focus: Continuous Discovery, Opportunity Solution Tree, and customer interviewing.

What is it?: A visual tool to map outcomes, opportunities, and solutions. It helps teams move from output-focused to outcome-focused work.
Structure:
- Outcome: The root of the tree (e.g., increase Netflix engagement).
- Opportunities: Unmet needs, pain points, or desires (e.g., “I can’t decide what to watch”).
- Solutions: Potential ways to address opportunities (e.g., personalized recommendations).
Why it’s hard: Teams struggle to separate opportunities from solutions. Opportunities should be specific and customer-focused.
Example: For Netflix, opportunities might include “hard to find a movie” or “difficult to use the Apple TV remote.”

Definition: Building continuous feedback loops with customers to inform product decisions.
Why it matters: Digital products are never “done.” Continuous Discovery ensures teams are always learning and iterating.
How to start: Conduct at least one customer interview per week. Automate the process to make it sustainable.
Balancing Discovery and Delivery: Discovery and delivery happen in parallel. Teams should make bets while continuously improving them through discovery.

Focus on Stories: Ask customers to share specific experiences (e.g., “Tell me about the last time you watched something on Netflix”).
Avoid Direct Questions: Instead of asking “What do you like to watch?”, ask “What happened when you decided to watch something?”
Listen Actively: Summarize what you hear to show you’re listening and dig deeper into interesting points.
Natural Conversation: Make the interview feel like a casual chat, not a Q&A session.

Overcommitting to Solutions: Teams often jump to solutions without fully understanding the problem. Explore multiple solutions for the same opportunity.
Ignoring Assumption Testing: Break ideas into assumptions and test them early. Avoid large, costly experiments.
Siloed Decision-Making: Avoid the “CEO of the product” mindset. Collaborate with designers and engineers to make decisions.

Early vs. Late Stage: The core process remains the same, but in larger companies, teams need to manage dependencies and align with adjacent teams.
Cynicism in Large Companies: Address skepticism by showing that small, frequent customer interactions are better than no data at all.

Scheduling Tools: Calendly, Google Calendar, Salesforce.
Recruiting Tools: Ethnio, Intercom, Usabilla, Hotjar.
Assumption Testing: Use small, rapid tests to validate assumptions before committing to large experiments.

“Everything in our backlog is a bet. Discovery is helping us make a better bet.”
“The moment you stop making progress in your career is the moment you start looking for another job.”
“Opportunities emerge from our customers’ stories. If you’re not collecting rich stories, it’s hard to identify opportunities.”
“Discovery and delivery are not separate phases. You’re always doing both.”
“The best way to kill any appetite for Discovery is to say, ‘Let’s stop making bets until we discover.’ Don’t do that.”
“If your interview feels like you’re having a beer with a buddy, that’s a good sign.”
“We’re in the business of changing behavior, not seeking new knowledge. Small data is better than no data.”
“The trio (PM, designer, engineer) should decide together. Disagreements mean you haven’t found the best option yet.”
“Most teams are stuck in project-based research. Continuous Discovery is sustainable if we change our habits.”
“Imagine if this way of working was possible. There really are teams that work this way.”

Teresa Torres: Author of Continuous Discovery Habits, product coach, and consultant.
Lenny Rachitsky: Host of the podcast, former product manager at Airbnb.

Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein: Authors of Nudge, referenced for choice architecture.
Tobias Lütke: CEO of Shopify, mentioned in passing.

Netflix: Used as an example for the Opportunity Solution Tree.
Hulu: Mentioned as a competitor to Netflix.
Disney+: Referenced in a customer story.
Persona: Sponsor of the podcast, provides identity verification solutions.
Dovetail: User research tool for analyzing customer interviews.
Stitch: Authentication and onboarding platform.
Atlassian, Canva, Deloitte, Nielsen Norman Group: Companies that use Dovetail.
Square, Block, Gusto, Udemy: Companies that use Persona.