Continuous Discovery: Automating the Weekly Customer Touchpoint
Teresa Torres popularized 'Continuous Discovery.' But maintaining weekly interviews is exhausting. Here is how to automate the habit.
The "Continuous Discovery Habits" framework by Teresa Torres is the gold standard for modern product teams. The core rule: Talk to customers every week.
Not once a quarter. Not before a big launch. Every. Single. Week.
Why? because if you go a month without user input, you drift. You start building for yourself, not the market.
The Logistics Nightmare
The theory is perfect. The reality is hard.
- Monday: Recruit users.
- Tuesday: Schedule calls.
- Wednesday: Conduct calls (half no-show).
- Thursday: Synthesize notes.
- Friday: Share with team.
By next Monday, you're too tired to do it again.
Automating the Engine
You can build a "Continuous Discovery Engine" that runs on autopilot using Fieldrun.
Step 1: The Always-On Recruit
Place a permanent link in your welcome email or app footer: "Help us improve." Connect this to a Fieldrun AI interview.
Step 2: The Rolling Topic
Change the AI's "Goal" weekly, not the recruitment mechanism.
- Week 1: "Ask users about the new dashboard."
- Week 2: "Ask users about their reporting needs."
- Week 3: "Ask users about competitor tools."
You update the prompt in 2 minutes. The link stays the same.
Step 3: The Friday Digest
Configure Fieldrun to send a summary every Friday morning to your Slack channel. "This week, we spoke to 45 users. The top request was Dark Mode. Here are 3 surprising quotes..."
The Result
You get the pulse of the customer delivered to your coffee cup every week, without the administrative overhead of being a full-time researcher.