Continuous Discovery Habits, Teresa Torres, 2021
In Continuous Discovery Habits, Teresa Torres provides a practical framework for product teams to maintain weekly touchpoints with customers, conducting small research activities in pursuit of desired outcomes. The book emphasizes that discovery is a mindset—outcome-oriented, customer-centric, collaborative, visual, experimental, and continuous—rather than just a set of tactics.
Top 3 Learnings:
Map the opportunity space before jumping to solutions. Use experience maps to visualize what you know, conduct continuous interviews to understand actual customer behavior (not what they say they want), and build an opportunity solution tree that helps you compare and contrast opportunities rather than making yes/no decisions. The whole team is responsible for the entire tree, and you should always be developing assumptions.
Test assumptions, not ideas. Don’t test entire ideas—test the riskiest assumptions across multiple ideas to contrast them. Generate 10-20 tests per week by focusing on assumptions (desirability, viability, feasibility, usability, ethical) rather than full solutions. Start small for early signals, use unmoderated user testing and one-question surveys, and focus on reducing risk rather than achieving 100% certainty.
Show stakeholders the work, not just conclusions. Take stakeholders on the journey by showing your opportunity solution tree, interview snapshots, solution sets, assumption maps, and testing plans. Continuously ask what they would have done differently and what other ideas or interpretations they have. Be a smart filter, not a detail dumper.
Why and when to read it:
Read this when you’re building products and want to move beyond feature factories to truly customer-centric discovery. It’s especially valuable for product managers, designers, and engineers working in product trios. The book provides concrete techniques for weekly customer interviews, opportunity mapping, and assumption testing that can be implemented immediately, making it perfect for teams struggling with product-market fit or wanting to establish continuous discovery habits.