Discovery Principles & Operating System
Set up the habits, roles, rules, and rhythms that make discovery continuous. This module teaches what discovery is, how to run it every week with a small team, how to keep it ethical and privacy-safe, and how to aim it at outcomes. Lessons are practical, tool-agnostic, and designed to avoid overlap with recruiting, repositories, governance, or collaboration deep-dives covered in later modules.
Lessons
Introduction to product discovery
Outcomes over outputs in discovery
The product trio: roles that make discovery work
How to set a weekly discovery rhythm
How to write a 4-week discovery plan
How to pick the right discovery question
How to define discovery objectives and success signals
How to kick off your discovery week
Keep discovery small and frequent
Ethics 101: treat people with care
How to ask for consent in plain language
How to handle and store research data safely
Avoiding leading questions and pitching ideas
Reduce bias in discovery decisions
How to prep the trio for a user session
How to run a clean 30-minute interview
How to do a quick usability walkthrough in discovery
Making discovery visible to the team
How to turn every research finding into clear next steps
Know when to stop a line of inquiry
How to set a lightweight definition of done for discovery questions
Track discovery health with a few simple checks
How to protect time for discovery inside delivery
Working well in remote and mixed time zones
Handle pushback on discovery time
How to create a small discovery backlog
Balance discovery with delivery without thrash
How to prepare a one-slide weekly insight
Discovery anti-patterns to avoid
Context and why it matters in 2026
Set up the habits, roles, rules, and rhythms that make discovery continuous. This module teaches what discovery is, how to run it every week with a small team, how to keep it ethical and privacy-safe, and how to aim it at outcomes. Lessons are practical, tool-agnostic, and designed to avoid overlap with recruiting, repositories, governance, or collaboration deep-dives covered in later modules.
In modern product teams, progress depends on clear playbooks and measurable outcomes. This module gives you practical steps you can apply immediately while keeping alignment with the broader Product Discovery curriculum.
Step-by-step playbook
Templates and examples
- Introduction to product discovery
- Outcomes over outputs in discovery
- The product trio: roles that make discovery work
- How to set a weekly discovery rhythm
- How to write a 4-week discovery plan
- How to pick the right discovery question
If you are working on AI-enabled workflows, review the glossary terms Prompt library and Reflection loop for reusable implementation patterns.
Metrics to track
- Module completion rate from first to last lesson.
- Lesson-to-lesson progression drop-off points.
- Time to complete versus the estimated 145 minutes.
- Retention into the next module and downstream lesson activity.
FAQ
Who is this module for?
This module is designed for learners following Product Discovery, especially if you want to improve discovery principles & operating system with practical, repeatable steps.
How long does this module take?
Estimated completion time is 145 minutes across 29 lessons.
How should I study this module?
Complete lessons in order, apply one concept immediately in your current project, and review your progress using the metrics section below.
What should I do after this module?
Continue to the next module, then read the related articles to deepen your understanding with tactical examples and case studies.
Part of Product Discovery
Master product discovery: methods, cadence, and opportunity mapping that turn insights into action.
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