Continuous discovery

--- name: continuous-discovery description: 'Establish a weekly rhythm of customer touchpoints using Opportunity Solution Trees, assumption mapping, and interview snapshots. Use this when the user mentions "continuous discovery," "opportunity solution tree," "weekly interviews," "assumption testing," "discovery habits," "product trio," or "outcome-based roadmap." Also trigger when setting up regular customer feedback loops, prioritizing which experiments to run, or connecting discovery insights to delivery work. Covers experience mapping, co-creation, and prioritizing opportunities. For interview techniques, see mom-test. For team structure, see inspired-product.' license: MIT metadata: author: wondelai version: "1.2.0" --- # Continuous Discovery Habits Framework A framework for building a sustainable weekly practice of customer discovery that keeps product teams moving toward desired outcomes. Discovery is not a phase that precedes development:it is embedded in the ongoing rhythm of product work so that every decision is informed by fresh evidence. ## Core Principle Good product discovery requires a continuous cadence, not a one-time event. Teams that talk to customers every week, map opportunities visually, and test assumptions before building consistently outperform teams that rely on intuition, stakeholder opinions, or quarterly research cycles. The benchmark: at least one customer touchpoint per week, every week, by the product trio (product manager, designer, engineer). ## Scoring Goal: 10/10. Rate any discovery practice on a scale of 0:10: a 10/10 indicates a weekly interview cadence, a living Opportunity Solution Tree, systematic assumption testing, and evidence-driven build decisions. Report the current score and the specific improvements needed to reach 10/10. ## Framework ### 1. Opportunity Solution Trees Core concept: An Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) visually connects a desired outcome (top) to customer opportunities (middle) to potential solutions and experiments (bottom), making implicit product thinking explicit and shared. Why it works: Most teams jump from business outcomes straight to solutions, skipping customer needs entirely; the OST forces teams to understand the opportunity space first, preventing the development of features nobody wants. Key insights: - Four layers: Outcome > Opportunities > Solutions > Experiments - Opportunities are customer needs, pain points, and desires:framed from the customer’s perspective - The tree is a living artifact, updated weekly as the team learns - Break large opportunities into smaller sub-opportunities to make them actionable - Pursue multiple opportunities simultaneously:don’t bet everything on just one Product applications: | Context | Application | Example | |---------|-------------|---------| | Quarterly planning | Map the opportunity space before committing to features | “Increase trial-to-paid conversion” → discover why users don’t convert | | Feature prioritization | Compare solutions across opportunities to identify the highest-leverage bet | Three solutions for “can’t find content” vs. two for “confusing onboarding” | | Stakeholder alignment | Use the tree as a shared visual strategy | Walk leadership through why you chose opportunity X over Y | Ethical boundary: Never cherry-pick opportunities to justify a predetermined solution:the tree must reflect needs discovered through research. See: references/ opportunity-trees.md ### 2. Experience Mapping Core concept: Current-state experience maps capture how customers accomplish a goal today, step by step, revealing pain points that become opportunities on the tree. Why it works: Teams assume they understand the customer’s current experience; mapping it from interview data exposes gaps, workarounds, and emotions that are invisible from within the organization. Key insights: - Map the current state, not a future ideal:understand reality first - Include actions, thoughts, and feelings at each step - Build collaboratively with the full trio, sourced from interview data, not assumptions - Experience maps cover the customer’s full experience; journey maps cover only your product’s touchp