How to start doing
Continuous Product Discovery
How to start doing
Continuous Product
Discovery
What is Continuous Product Discovery?
What is Continuous Product Discovery?
Chances are, if you signed up for fforward, you’re either curious about Continuous Discovery or are already practicing it to one degree or another.
At a basic level, the goal is to consistently engage with customers to uncover their needs, desires, and pain points.
We do this by leading regular customer interviews, mapping user journeys, thinking of multiple solutions, and validating the assumptions behind these solutions before investing in building a feature.
Our ultimate goal is to make better product decisions based on real user insights rather than going with our gut.
Chances are, if you signed up for fforward, you’re either curious about Continuous Discovery or are already practicing it to one degree or another.
At a basic level, the goal is to consistently engage with customers to uncover their needs, desires, and pain points.
We do this by leading regular customer interviews, mapping user journeys, thinking of multiple solutions, and validating the assumptions behind these solutions before investing in building a feature.
Our ultimate goal is to make better product decisions based on real user insights rather than going with our gut.
A playbook to roll out Continuous Discovery
A playbook to roll out Continuous Discovery
Every team is at a different point in their Continuous Discovery journey. You might be a startup searching for product market fit, and able to change the way you work on a dime.
Or you might be part of an established company with multiple product lines, a complex hierarchy and a diverse set of stakeholders that need to sign off on any meaningful change.
No matter how far along you are or where you work, you need to be open to breaking old patterns and trying something new.
Every team is at a different point in their Continuous Discovery journey. You might be a startup searching for product market fit, and able to change the way you work on a dime.
Or you might be part of an established company with multiple product lines, a complex hierarchy and a diverse set of stakeholders that need to sign off on any meaningful change.
No matter how far along you are or where you work, you need to be open to breaking old patterns and trying something new.
Commit to a continuous mindset
Commit to a continuous mindset
A big part of adopting Continuous Discovery is acknowledging there are viable alternatives to the status quo:
Roadmaps don’t have to be built once a year by executives
Research doesn’t have to be completed up front and handed off to a product manager
We don’t need to ship a feature to learn if it solves a problem
Instead, we can identify product opportunities that align with our business objectives. We can learn from our customers throughout the project lifecycle. And we can run rapid experiments to derisk the solutions we want to build.
A big part of adopting Continuous Discovery is acknowledging there are viable alternatives to the status quo:
Roadmaps don’t have to be built once a year by executives
Research doesn’t have to be completed up front and handed off to a product manager
We don’t need to ship a feature to learn if it solves a problem
Instead, we can identify product opportunities that align with our business objectives. We can learn from our customers throughout the project lifecycle. And we can run rapid experiments to derisk the solutions we want to build.
Assemble Product teams
Assemble Product teams
Adopting a lot of these practices means putting the right people together and empowering them to navigate the risks associated with building product. Marty Cagan writes a lot about the four types of risk facing product teams:
Desirability – does anyone want the feature we’re building
Viability – will this work in the context of our business model
Feasibility – is it technically possible to build this feature
Usability – will our users be able to use this feature effectively
Teams need to be able to evaluate and mitigate each of these risks. Therefore, a product team should be led by a small group that includes:
A PM who can mitigate desirability and viability
An engineer to mitigate feasibility
A designer, responsible for usability risks
And whenever possible, a product marketing manager who can work with the PM
Adopting a lot of these practices means putting the right people together and empowering them to navigate the risks associated with building product. Marty Cagan writes a lot about the four types of risk facing product teams:
Desirability – does anyone want the feature we’re building
Viability – will this work in the context of our business model
Feasibility – is it technically possible to build this feature
Usability – will our users be able to use this feature effectively
Teams need to be able to evaluate and mitigate each of these risks. Therefore, a product team should be led by a small group that includes:
A PM who can mitigate desirability and viability
An engineer to mitigate feasibility
A designer, responsible for usability risks
And whenever possible, a product marketing manager who can work with the PM
Automate recruiting customer interviews
Automate recruiting customer interviews
Teams that practice Continuous Discovery work on a weekly cadence. Every week is a new opportunity to assess opportunities, learn from customers, and make decisions based on learnings.
The bread and butter of a continuous discovery practice is the weekly discovery interview. So having a steady stream of customers to talk to is a must-have.
Some product teams primarily rely on tools like intercom, zendesk or hubspot to automate interview requests. Others prefer to have colleagues in Customer Success or Sales recruit for customer interviews.
Regardless of where you’re recruiting, the more you can automate the process, the more time you’ll have to plan experiments and run interviews.
Teams that practice Continuous Discovery work on a weekly cadence. Every week is a new opportunity to assess opportunities, learn from customers, and make decisions based on learnings.
The bread and butter of a continuous discovery practice is the weekly discovery interview. So having a steady stream of customers to talk to is a must-have.
Some product teams primarily rely on tools like intercom, zendesk or hubspot to automate interview requests. Others prefer to have colleagues in Customer Success or Sales recruit for customer interviews.
Regardless of where you’re recruiting, the more you can automate the process, the more time you’ll have to plan experiments and run interviews.
Build your Continuous Discovery toolkit
Build your Continuous Discovery toolkit
The last big component of a Continuous Discovery practice is assembling your toolkit. Some of these tools will help you understand your users. Others will allow you to accelerate and/or scale your Continuous Discovery practice.
Opportunity-Solution Trees and Experience Maps are both conceptual tools designed to help you build a mental model of your customers and the opportunities you discover to satisfy their needs.
There are also a myriad of software products that can help accelerate your discovery practice. There are products that help organize research, schedule meetings, transcribe calls, run surveys, and analyze research.
The last big component of a Continuous Discovery practice is assembling your toolkit. Some of these tools will help you understand your users. Others will allow you to accelerate and/or scale your Continuous Discovery practice.
Opportunity-Solution Trees and Experience Maps are both conceptual tools designed to help you build a mental model of your customers and the opportunities you discover to satisfy their needs.
There are also a myriad of software products that can help accelerate your discovery practice. There are products that help organize research, schedule meetings, transcribe calls, run surveys, and analyze research.
Additional resources
Additional resources
We’ve covered a lot in this article, yet it’s also only the beginning. Here are some more resources to help you get started:
Recruiting Customer Interview Participants by Teresa Torres
The Four Big Risks by Marty Cagan
We’ve covered a lot in this article, yet it’s also only the beginning. Here are some more resources to help you get started:
Recruiting Customer Interview Participants by Teresa Torres
The Four Big Risks by Marty Cagan
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Copyright 2024 FForward. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2024 FForward. All rights reserved.