continuous-discovery_skill

Overview

This skill implements Teresa Torres' Continuous Discovery Habits to make weekly customer contact, map opportunity solution trees, and run assumption tests. It helps product trios (PM, designer, engineer) set up a repeatable discovery cadence that drives evidence-based decisions. Use it to design discovery processes, run interview-driven research, and reduce risk before building.

How this skill works

The skill guides teams to hold weekly customer touchpoints, capture interview snapshots, and update an opportunity solution tree that links outcomes to solutions and assumptions. It prioritizes testing the highest-risk assumptions with the lowest-cost method, using templates for weekly plans, interview notes, trees, and test plans. Decision trees and checklists steer whether to discover more or proceed to build.

When to use it

• Setting up a discovery process for a product or feature
• Planning and running weekly user research with the product trio
• Mapping outcomes to opportunities and potential solutions
• Designing and prioritizing assumption tests before engineering work
• Establishing a repeatable cadence so discovery informs delivery

Best practices

• Keep weekly minimum: 3–5 customer touchpoints and one trio synthesis session
• Always include PM, designer, and engineer in interviews and analysis
• Start trees with one clear, measurable outcome and update weekly
• Test highest-risk assumptions first using the cheapest valid method
• Capture interview snapshots immediately: insights, opportunities, quotes, next steps

Example use cases

• Kickstart a four-week discovery habit to validate activation or retention drivers
• Use an opportunity solution tree to decide between multiple solutions for the same customer problem
• Create assumption test plans (survey, prototype, concierge) before writing code
• Run rapid Wizard-of-Oz or concierge tests to validate desirability before building
• Maintain a decision log to show stakeholders why a build, pivot, or further testing was chosen