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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Continuous Discovery Habits summary
Teresa Torres
Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value
20 mins
Brief summary
Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres is a guide on how to continuously validate and improve products to meet customer needs. It offers practical advice on building better user insights, problem-definition, and experiments to create successful products.
Table of Contents
Continuous Discovery Habits
Summary of 5 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 5
Focusing on outcomes over outputs will help you create the right products for your customers.
What’s the difference between an output and an outcome? Knowing the answer might make all the difference to your business.
Let’s start by taking a look at what an output is. An output is a thing. This thing might be a product, or it might just be a feature of a product. If you ask your product team what their outputs are, they will point to all the great products that are sitting on your business’s shelves, or those products’ features, which they have designed.
Now let’s look at what an outcome is. A business outcome is not a thing; it’s a change. Maybe it’s a change in your business’s bottom line, or it might be a change in your customers’ behavior, or a change in customer-satisfaction levels. Outcomes are about the impacts that your company’s products have on your customers, or on your business itself.
Now that we’re clear on the difference between an output and an outcome, let’s ask another question: What should your company be focusing on, outputs or outcomes?
The answer is always outcomes. When you focus on outcomes over outputs, you put your customer at the heart of your business. Your product team starts by looking at what outcome they would want to achieve for your customers, and then thinks about what products to build or tweak, in order to make those outcomes a reality. This is the way to do things.
When the focus is on outputs, the product team comes up with a concept for a product first and only later thinks about what customer need or desire that product might serve. This is not the way to do things.
Let’s take a look at this difference in action.
Product consultant Teresa Torres worked with a custom-made dog-food company’s product team. This team started by thinking about what outcome they wanted for their customers. They decided that they wanted to improve their customers’ understanding of just how healthy their custom-made dog food was. If more customers realized how good their food was for their dogs, the product team figured that they would keep buying the food, month after month. With this outcome in mind, the product team set about experimenting with methods of improving their customers’ knowledge of their food. They made changes to the way they explained their product to customers, and then measured whether these changes had any impact on how many customers continued to subscribe to their dog-food service. This focus on outcomes, rather than outputs, allowed them to keep their customers’ needs at the heart of their operations.
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What is Continuous Discovery Habits about?
Continuous Discovery Habits (2021) explores how product managers and designers can keep making a positive impact on their customers’ lives. It explores an optimal decision-making process for product teams, so that they can continue to improve their offerings.
Continuous Discovery Habits Review
Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres (2021) is a valuable read for anyone looking to improve their product discovery process. Here are three reasons why this book stands out:
- Boasting practical strategies and tips, it equips readers with the tools they need to continuously improve their product discovery efforts.
- Teresa Torres combines real-life examples and case studies to illustrate key concepts, making the book relatable and easy to understand.
- The book's emphasis on iterative learning and experimentation keeps readers engaged and motivated, ensuring that the topic remains anything but dull.
Who should read Continuous Discovery Habits ?
- Product managers looking for a new way of working
- Entrepreneurs seeking a fresh perspective on creativity
- Product designers
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Continuous Discovery Habits FAQs
What is the main message of Continuous Discovery Habits?
The main message of Continuous Discovery Habits is to instill effective habits that lead to continuous learning and improvement in product development.
How long does it take to read Continuous Discovery Habits?
The reading time for Continuous Discovery Habits varies depending on the reader's speed. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.
Is Continuous Discovery Habits a good book? Is it worth reading?
Continuous Discovery Habits is a valuable read for anyone involved in product development. It offers practical insights and strategies for adopting a continuous discovery mindset.
Who is the author of Continuous Discovery Habits?
Teresa Torres is the author of Continuous Discovery Habits.
What to read after Continuous Discovery Habits ?
If you're wondering what to read next after Continuous Discovery Habits , here are some recommendations we suggest:
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- Empowered by Marty Cagan with Chris Jones
- Testing Business Ideas by David J. Bland and Alexander Osterwalder
- Inspired by Marty Cagan
- Radical Product Thinking by R. Dutt
- Change by Design by Tim Brown
- Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
- F.I.R.E. by Dan Ward
- Gut Check by Steven R. Gundry
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