cyberneticlibrary

Run complete discovery cycle in 4 weeks

discovery-processskillsetup L34,290
deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills
What it does

Run full discovery cycle from problem hypothesis through validated solution in 2-4 weeks

Best for

Orgs building continuous discovery practice and teams investigating retention/churn problems systematically before committing dev resources.

Inputs
  • · problem hypothesis
  • · research questions
  • · team (PM, design, eng lead)
  • · timeline (2-4 week window)
Outputs
  • · problem statement + How Might We question
  • · interview guide
  • · synthesis insights
  • · solution options + validation plan
Requires
  • · discovery-interview-prep skill
  • · problem-framing-canvas
  • · jobs-to-be-done skill
  • · user-testing or experimentation platform
Preconditions
  • · team alignment on running discovery
  • · 2-4 week time window available
  • · customer access (warm or cold outreach)
Failure modes
  • · skipping phases (months) doesn't accelerate results
  • · stakeholder pressure for action before validation
  • · discovery becomes one-off instead of continuous practice
  • · team loses confidence if early signal is negative (legitimate kill signal)
Trust signals
  • · 6-phase workflow (Frame → Research → Synthesize → Generate → Validate → Decide)
  • · phase decision points documented
  • · distinction from waterfall research
  • · Teresa Torres + Marty Cagan reference
  • · template.md provided for full fill-in structure