Continuous Discovery Habits - my learnings part 1
Hi All,
Teresa Torres recently released her book Continuous Discovery Habits and I loved reading it. I've synthesised my learnings from the book and you’re the reading the first part. Hope it'll help you build products that customers love!
“If you haven't had the good fortune to be coached by a strong leader or product coach, this book [by Teresa] can help fill that gap and set you on the path to success."
- Marty Cagan, INSPIRED
Contents
Continuous discovery definition
Continuous discovery mindset
Continuous discovery structure
Part 1
“Too often we have many competing goals that all seem equally important.”
— Christina Wodtke, Radical Focus
Continuous discovery definition:
Weekly customer touch-points at a minimum
… by the team building the product
… where they conduct small research activities
… in pursuit of a desired outcome
Continuous discovery mindset
A continuous mindset requires that we deliver value every sprint
The team continues to solve project-sized opportunities by solving smaller opportunities continuously
The opportunity space and the solution space evolve together with time
Continuous discovery needs the following pre-requisite mindsets:
Outcome-oriented (vs output)
Customer-centric
Collaborative (vs handing-off deliverables through stage gates)
Visual (leveraging the immense human capacity of spatial reasoning)
Experimental (think like a scientist; identify assumptions, gather evidence)
Continuous (from project mindset to continuous mindset)
Instead of asking team to deliver a fixed roadmap full of features by a specific date in time, we are asking them to solve a customer problem or to address a business need
Giving team autonomy help in finding the best solution
A fixed roadmap communicates false certainty
“Structure is complicated. It gets done, undone, and redone.”
— Barbara Tversky, Mind in Motion
Continuous discovery structure
Opportunity-Solution Tree (OST) is a simple way of visually representing the paths you might take to reach a desired outcome. It consists the following:
Business outcome
Opportunity space
Solution space
Assumption tests
“An outcome is a change in human behaviour that drives business results.”
— Josh Seiden, Outcomes Over Output
To reach a desired outcome, the product trio must discover and explore the opportunity space. The opportunity space, however, is infinite
How the team defines and structures the opportunity space is exactly how they give structure to the ‘ill-structured problem’ of reaching their desired outcome
How we frame an ill-structured problem impacts how we might solve it
We can’t simply start with one framing. Good problem-solvers try out many framings, exploring how each impacts the solution space
The OST tree should visualise solutions considered and assumption tests to evaluate those solutions
Instead of communicating your conclusions, you're showcasing the learning and thinking that got you there
"Managers must convert society's needs into opportunities for profitable business"
— Peter Drucker
Thanks for reading. You’ll find an email from The Curious Carrot every Saturday in your inbox. If you have any feedback, please reach out to me at sceptic.scholes@gmail.com
Upcoming
Continuous Discovery Habits - my learnings part 2
Continuous discovery journey
Continuous discovery interviews
Continuous discovery metrics
Continuous Discovery Habits - my learnings part 3
Continuous discovery teams
Continuous discovery stakeholder management
Continuous discovery habits