Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value

by Teresa Torres

When meeting with stakeholders, start at the top of your tree. Remind your stakeholders what your desired outcome is. Ask them if anything has changed since you last agreed to this outcome. This sets the scope for the conversation. Share how you mapped out the opportunity space. Highlight the top-level opportunities. Drill into the detail only when and where they ask for it. Ask them if you missed anything. Consider that they may have knowledge of opportunities that you might have missed. Capture their suggestions. You can always vet them in your future customer interviews. Share how you assessed and prioritized the opportunity space. Use the tree structure to walk through each decision you made. Choose the appropriate level of detail based on the stakeholder you are talking to. Ask them if they would have made a different decision at each decision point. Consider their feedback. Share more context about your target opportunity. Help them fully understand the customer need or pain point you intend to address. Use your interview snapshots to help your stakeholders empathize with your customers. Answer their questions. This step is critical. Your stakeholder needs to fully understand the opportunity you are pursuing before you share solutions with them. This is what sets the context for how to evaluate solutions and moves the conversation away from opinions and preferences. Share the solutions you generated. Ask them if they have any of their own ideas. Make sure you capture...

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