Continuous Discovery
Teresa Torres' continuous discovery: weekly customer touchpoints feed an Opportunity Solution Tree (outcome -> opportunities -> solutions -> assumption tests). A repeating Interview (fan) -> Map opportunities (waist) -> Ideate (fan) -> Test assumptions (waist) loop that keeps a product team anchored to a desired outcome.
When discovery should be an ongoing habit, not a one-off project: you have a product outcome to move and want a steady cadence of small interviews and assumption tests rather than a single big study.
Stages
Interview
Run small, regular customer touchpoints across segment-diverse personas. Ask about real recent behavior and the struggling moments — never pitch a solution. Surface OPPORTUNITIES: unmet needs, pains and desires as they were actually lived.
Map Opportunities
Cluster what you heard into an Opportunity Solution Tree under ONE target outcome; size and pick the target opportunity to address next. Author payload.clusters [{label, member_node_ids, insight}] + payload.target_opportunity.
Ideate
Generate several distinct solution candidates that could address the TARGET OPPORTUNITY (not every opportunity at once). Go broad before judging.
Test Assumptions
Name the riskiest assumptions behind the candidates and run small, fast tests on them; converge on what is worth pursuing and what feeds next week's interviews. Author payload.assumptions [{statement, result, evidence}] + payload.next_focus.