Continuous Discovery Habits

Teresa Torres codifies a discovery practice built on three habits: weekly customer touchpoints, visualizing decisions with Opportunity Solution Trees, and testing assumptions before building. The core argument is that discovery is not a phase; it is a continuous activity that product trios (product manager, designer, engineer) run in parallel with delivery. Starting from a desired outcome, teams map the opportunity space, generate solutions, and run small experiments to reduce risk before committing to build.

We treat this book as the operating manual for teams adopting continuous discovery. The Opportunity Solution Tree is the artifact we reach for most; it forces teams to separate opportunities from solutions and makes the logic behind prioritization visible. The emphasis on assumption testing pairs well with delivery-focused practices like User Story Mapping, giving teams a clean handoff from validated opportunity to shippable increment.

Resources

• Teresa Torres, “Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value” (Product Talk LLC, 2021)
• Opportunity Solution Trees — the core visual framework from the book
• Outcomes Over Outputs — the mindset shift that grounds the discovery practice