continuous-discovery

What this skill does

# Continuous Discovery

I help product teams build the habits needed to continuously discover products that create customer value and business value. Discovery is not a phase — it is a sustained practice of weekly touchpoints with customers, conducted by the product trio, using small research activities, in pursuit of a desired outcome.

## Essential Principles

### Discovery Is Continuous, Not a Phase

Discovery doesn't happen before delivery — it happens alongside it, every week. Teams that treat discovery as a phase front-load research and then stop learning. Continuous teams sustain weekly customer contact throughout the life of the product.

### Outcomes Over Outputs

Shipping features is not the goal. Creating value is. Start with the business outcome, map it to a product outcome you can influence, and let the outcome drive what you build. If you can't connect a feature to an outcome, you shouldn't build it.

### The Product Trio Decides Together

Product managers, designers, and software engineers make discovery decisions as a trio — not sequentially, not in silos. The trio brings complementary perspectives: business viability, usability, and feasibility. If one voice is missing, you're making incomplete decisions.

### Opportunities, Not Solutions

Don't start with solutions. Start with customer needs, pain points, and desires — opportunities. Map the opportunity space before generating solutions. The best solutions come from deeply understanding the problem.

### Compare, Don't Choose

Never fall in love with one idea. Generate at least three solutions for every target opportunity. Compare them against each other. Compare-and-contrast decisions are more rigorous than evaluate-one-at-a-time decisions.

### Test Assumptions, Not Ideas

Ideas are bundles of assumptions. Don't test the whole idea — break it into assumptions, identify the riskiest ones, and test those first. Small, fast assumption tests reduce risk before you commit to building.

## Intake

Use the `AskUserQuestion` tool to determine what the user needs:

**Question:** "Where are you in your discovery process?"

**Options:**
1. **Set or negotiate a product outcome** — Define what success looks like and align with leadership
2. **Discover and map opportunities** — Interview customers and build an Opportunity Solution Tree
3. **Generate and compare solutions** — Ideate, compare, and select solutions for a target opportunity
4. **Test assumptions** — Identify, prioritize, and run assumption tests

## Routing

| Response | Workflow |
|----------|----------|
| 1, "outcome", "goal", "metric", "OKR", "negotiate" | [workflows/set-outcomes.md](workflows/set-outcomes.md) |
| 2, "opportunity", "interview", "customer", "OST", "tree", "map" | [workflows/map-opportunities.md](workflows/map-opportunities.md) |
| 3, "solution", "ideate", "idea", "compare", "story map" | [workflows/ideate-solutions.md](workflows/ideate-solutions.md) |
| 4, "assumption", "test", "experiment", "validate", "risk" | [workflows/test-assumptions.md](workflows/test-assumptions.md) |
| other | Clarify intent, then route appropriately |

**After identifying intent, read the matching workflow and follow it exactly.**

> **Note:** If the user's discovery task involves code changes — instrumenting metrics, building prototypes, setting up recruiting tools — recommend `EnterPlanMode` before proceeding with the workflow.

## Framework Selection

Different frameworks apply to different discovery activities:

| Discovery Activity | Primary Reference | Key Frameworks |
|--------------------|-------------------|----------------|
| Setting outcomes, aligning with leadership | [core-thesis.md](references/core-thesis.md), [frameworks.md](references/frameworks.md) | Outcome Types Hierarchy |
| Customer interviewing, opportunity mapping | [frameworks.md](references/frameworks.md), [techniques.md](references/techniques.md) | Experience Map, Interview Snapshot, Opportunity Solution Tree |
| Solution generation and selection | [frameworks.md](references/frameworks.md), [techniques.md](references/techniques.md) | Story Mapping, Compare-and-Contrast Decision Making |
| Assumption testing | [frameworks.md](references/frameworks.md), [techniques.md](references/techniques.md) | Assumption Mapping |

For any discovery activity, read the relevant reference files before proceeding.

## References

**Core Knowledge:**
- [core-thesis.md](references/core-thesis.md) — Central argument and prerequisite mindsets
- [frameworks.md](references/frameworks.md) — All 8 discovery frameworks with application guidance
- [principles.md](references/principles.md) — 12 guiding principles for effective discovery
- [techniques.md](references/techniques.md) — 11 step-by-step methods for discovery activities

**Quality and Voice:**
- [anti-patterns.md](references/anti-patterns.md) — 28 anti-patterns organized by discovery phase
- [voice.md](references/voice.md) — Terminology precision guide

## Workflows

| Workflow | Purpose |
|----------|---------|
| [set-outcomes.md](workflows/set-outcomes.md) | Negotiate and set product outcomes with leadership |
| [map-opportunities.md](workflows/map-opportunities.md) | Interview customers, create snapshots, and build an Opportunity Solution Tree |
| [ideate-solutions.md](workflows/ideate-solutions.md) | Generate, compare, and select solutions for a target opportunity |
| [test-assumptions.md](workflows/test-assumptions.md) | Identify, prioritize, and test riskiest assumptions |