Product Discovery
Product discovery is the work that product teams do to make decisions about what to build, in contrast with product delivery which focuses on building, shipping, and maintaining a production quality product.
Product discovery is a decision-making process that includes customers throughout.
How does product discovery work?
It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the methods—customer interviews, usability tests, A/B tests, assumption tests, customer journey mapping, story mapping, OKRs, opportunity solution trees, and so on. But the underlying principle is simple.
Good product discovery has a simple underlying structure:
- Start with an outcome — A clear desired outcome sets the scope for discovery
- Discover opportunities — Identify customer needs, pain points, and desires that drive that outcome
- Discover solutions — Generate and test solutions that address those opportunities
What are the key activities in product discovery?
Good product discovery teams engage in two key activities week over week:
- Customer interviewing helps you discover opportunities
- Assumption testing helps you discover solutions
Teams engage with customers continuously (at least weekly), minimizing the number of decisions they make without customer input.
Why does product discovery matter?
When you acknowledge that digital products are never done, you have to redefine the work that you do. Product discovery provides the framework for making ongoing decisions about what to build, ensuring those decisions are informed by continuous customer engagement.
Learn more:
- Product Discovery Basics: Everything You Need to Know
Related terms:
- Continuous Discovery
- Product Decisions
- Opportunity Solution Tree
- Assumption Testing
Last Updated: October 25, 2025