Summary:A consistent cadence ensures that discovery is not just reactive but proactive. Set a routine where discovery is part of every sprint, every planning cycle, and every product decision.Actionable Information:Integrate discovery tasks into your sprint cycles.Dedicate time in your weekly or bi-weekly cadence for discovery work (e.g., interviews, testing, gathering feedback).Encourage team members to split discovery activities among different roles (designers, engineers, marketers).

2. Build a Discovery Cadence

Summary:To build successful products, you must understand the jobs your customers are trying to get done. This is often beyond their immediate task but reflects the core problem they need to solve.Actionable Information:Define customer jobs-to-be-done (JTBD).Identify pain points your customers experience while completing tasks.Use customer stories to map out these jobs in detail.

3. Understand Customer Jobs

Advice:Focus on the outcomes customers want, not just the tasks they complete.Constantly test and refine your assumptions about customer jobs by getting feedback during discovery sessions.Checkpoints:Have you clearly defined your customer’s core jobs?Are you collecting feedback about job outcomes, not just task completion?Have you mapped customer pain points?

Advice:Use lean experimentation—test assumptions quickly and cheaply, learning from each cycle.Keep your assumptions transparent with the team, so everyone is aligned on what’s being tested.Checkpoints:Have you identified your key assumptions?Are you testing assumptions with real customers or prototypes?Have you prioritized assumptions based on uncertainty and impact?

4. Use Assumption Mapping

Summary:Decisions should be made based on what you learn from discovery activities. Move away from gut feeling decisions and rely on data and insights from users.Actionable Information:Base product decisions on user feedback, not assumptions.Use a decision-making framework (e.g., Opportunity Solution Tree) to visualize the problem, solutions, and assumptions.Track impact of your decisions and learn from both successful and unsuccessful outcomes.

6. Make Decisions Based on Insights

Advice:Use a collaborative decision-making process to ensure that multiple perspectives are considered.Stay flexible and be willing to change direction based on what you learn.Checkpoints:Are you using customer insights in your decision-making process?Do you have a decision framework in place?Are you measuring the impact of your decisions?

Summary:Aligning your team on the insights gathered during discovery ensures everyone is working toward the same goals. This collaboration keeps the product development process focused and unified.Actionable Information:Hold regular alignment meetings to discuss discovery insights.Share user stories and feedback openly with all team members.Involve cross-functional teams in the discovery process—including designers, engineers, marketers, and product managers.

7. Align the Team

Continuous discovery is a habit, not a project. Start small, iterate often, and make discovery a part of your everyday process. The key is not perfection but consistency in learning, testing, and evolving.

Final Thoughts:

Summary:Continuous discovery is about consistently gathering insights from customers, keeping your team aligned, and making informed decisions. It’s a daily practice of understanding your users, your market, and how to improve your product.Actionable Information:Set up regular customer interviews (e.g., weekly or bi-weekly).Use user surveys to gather feedback, but don’t rely on them entirely.Implement a discovery dashboard to track insights, trends, and user feedback over time.

1. Build a Continuous Discovery Habits System

Summary:Assumption mapping is a tool that helps you identify and test the key assumptions in your product development process. By making assumptions explicit, you can prioritize testing them and refine your approach.Actionable Information:List out key assumptions about your product (e.g., “Users will find this feature valuable”).Rank these assumptions by uncertainty and impact.Test high-impact assumptions first, whether through customer interviews, prototypes, or testing.

Summary:Prototypes are a key part of discovery, allowing you to test ideas quickly before committing to full development. They don’t need to be fully functional but should help validate key assumptions.Actionable Information:Build low-fidelity prototypes (e.g., wireframes, sketches) to test ideas early.Share prototypes with users to get feedback before investing in high-cost development.Use prototypes as a communication tool with stakeholders.

5. Use Prototypes to Test Ideas

Advice:Fail fast—don’t wait to build something perfect. Instead, test it as soon as possible.Prototype in small, manageable iterations. Each iteration should teach you something new.Checkpoints:Are you using prototypes to test product ideas early?Do you iterate quickly based on feedback?Are prototypes helping with stakeholder alignment?

Advice:Align your cadence with your team’s workflow, ensuring that discovery work flows seamlessly with your development cycles.Avoid “discovery fatigue” by varying discovery activities (e.g., one week focus on user interviews, another on usability tests).Checkpoints:Have you integrated discovery into your sprint planning?Are you balancing the discovery workload across your team?Do you feel your cadence is sustainable and non-disruptive?

Advice:Use a collaborative tool (e.g., Notion, Miro) to visualize insights and keep everyone aligned.Avoid siloing the discovery process; make it a shared responsibility for the entire team.Checkpoints:Do you have regular alignment meetings?Are insights being shared with all team members?Is your team working collaboratively on discovery activities?

Advice:Make discovery an ongoing habit, not an event.Involve your team by sharing insights regularly.Don’t wait for perfect data—small, frequent discoveries are more valuable than large, occasional ones.Checkpoints:Have you scheduled regular customer interviews?Is there a discovery dashboard tracking user insights?Are all team members aligned on customer feedback?

A 7-section summary of Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres, complete with actionable information, advice, and checkpoints for each section:

"If you haven't had the good fortune to be coached by a strong leader or product coach, this book can help fill that gap and set you on the path to success." - Marty Cagan How do you know that you are making a product or service that your customers want? How do you ensure that you are improving it over time? How do you guarantee that your team is creating value for your customers in a way that creates value for your business? In this book, you'll learn a structured and sustainable approach to continuous discovery that will help you answer each of these questions, giving you the confidence to act while also preparing you to be wrong. You'll learn to balance action with doubt so that you can get started without being blindsided by what you don't get right. If you want to discover products that customers love-that also deliver business results-this book is for you.

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Teresa Torres is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Teresa Torres has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Teresa Torres's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

6. Make Decisions Based on Insights

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Principle #14 We almost always have imperfect information on hand with which to make decisions