1 tip & 3 resources per week to improve your Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery practices in less than 5 minutes.
🛠️ Don't turn Continuous Discovery into Dogmatic Discovery
Don't turn Continuous Discovery into Dogmatic Discovery​Dear Reader,​ When I recently talked to Vivek Kumar for my work-in-progress book, this insight stood out: "The biggest moat you can always have is how fast you can learn." And a recurring theme in a recent Product Discovery workshop was to hold every decision in Product Discovery against "whether it helps reduce lead-time to actionable insights (aka lead-time until we reduce uncertainty). One of the main reasons I see product teams neglect the importance of that lead time is that they stick to a rigid order of activities at all costs. They get stuck in dogmatic Product Discovery. As your teams become more comfortable with deliberate Product Discovery and learn better practices, they may adopt a rigid, Dogmatic adherence to different “rules” of discovery. This represents a significant step forward from Alibi Discovery because it means teams are actively thinking about and incorporating systematized Product Discovery, but it comes with downsides. Characteristics of this state:
Clear signs you have to move on: Teams feel that the discovery process and act get in their way of creating value. Completing a Discovery task gets more priority than the quality of insights generated and decisions made, and the seemingly irrational volume of work raises questions. Did you enjoy this one or have feedback? Do reply. It's motivating. I'm not a robot; I read and respond to every subscriber email I get (just ask around). If this newsletter isn't for you anymore, you can unsubscribe here. Thank you for Practicing Product, ​Tim​ How to Dive Deeper into Product DiscoveryLearn how I helped companies like Deutsche Telekom and Forto hone their Product Discovery practices. I closely work with product organizations through workshops and coaching to introduce and adapt Product Discovery.
What did you think of this week's newsletter? As a Product Management Coach, I guide Product Teams to measure the progress of their evidence-informed decisions. I identify and share the patterns among better practices to connect the dots of Product Strategy, Product OKRs, and Product Discovery. |
Product Practice Newsletter
1 tip & 3 resources per week to improve your Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery practices in less than 5 minutes.
Product Practice #375 Bringing Discovery to EngineersWho 'Just Want to Build' READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED Sep 12, 2025 READING TIME 5 min & 47 sec Dear [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], I've coached product teams where engineering managers push back on discovery work, convinced that buildins is always faster than validating. They might see testing and validating ideas as obstacles between them and shipping cooler and shinier features. And, should you always extend your Discovery to a quarter because...
Product Practice #374 How to Go From Customer Problems to Outcome OKRs READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED Sep 5, 2025 READING TIME 5 min & 18 sec Dear [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], Most teams skip the hardest part of creating OKRs: translating validated customer problems into meaningful metrics. You've done the discovery work. Your interviews revealed that drivers on your ridesharing platform struggle with shift planning—they can't predict which areas will be busy, leading to wasted time and lower...
Product Practice #373 Discovery Collaborationis about Skills, not Titles READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED Aug 29, 2025 READING TIME 3 min & 15 sec Dear [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], Too many people get fixated on “we have to hire these roles to set up a Product Trio” when, in reality, they can get going from wherever they are. Having one representative from each domain of expertise is ideal, but it’s rarely the reality for product teams. So, instead of waiting until everything’s “in place,” here’s how...