Taking Continuous Discovery to the Next Level at SEEK [Case Study]

Teresa Torres, a discovery coach, shares a case study of a SEEK product team that moved from ad hoc, as-needed discovery to a structured, continuous discovery practice. Before coaching, the team interviewed customers only every few weeks, struggled to turn research into clear opportunities, and ran experiments too slowly and at too high a fidelity. With coaching, they adopted weekly discovery cadences, story-based interviewing, automated recruiting, opportunity solution trees, and explicit assumption mapping. The result was more frequent customer contact, more solution options, leaner experiments, and a team less attached to any single idea. The piece matters because it shows concrete habits that let a team sustain discovery rather than treating it as a one-off project.

01Key takeaways

• Run small discovery activities every week instead of waiting for a big research push when a decision is needed.
• Automate participant recruiting so customer conversations happen more often with less overhead.
• Use story-based interviews to uncover the context around what customers are trying to get done, not just answers to questions.
• Generate many solution options and test two or three in parallel to avoid confirmation bias toward a favorite idea.
• Write down the risky assumptions behind each idea and define in advance what evidence would validate or invalidate them.

02Key sections

Why a bright-spot team

The coach begins by picking one or two teams to become internal champions, creating a visible example that counters the claim that continuous discovery won't work in the organization.

Pre-coaching gaps

The team already valued research but interviewed customers infrequently, lacked a structured way to prioritize opportunities, and tested with overly polished prototypes.

What changed in the process

Coaching added weekly discovery rhythms, automated participant recruiting, story-based interviews, an opportunity solution tree, and explicit risky assumptions with evidence thresholds.

Aha moments and results

Making assumptions explicit surfaced gaps early and widened the range of ideas tested, and the team reports weekly customer contact, ten or more solution options, and a changed attitude toward ambitious bets.

Advice to other teams

Team members say the journey is emotionally uneven but worthwhile, and recommend coaching even for teams that think their discovery is already strong.

03From the post

“As a discovery coach, I work with all kinds of companies and teams. Some are brand new to discovery, others are already far along in their journey. To start, I always work with the leaders to identify one or two teams who we think will become champions for continuous discovery”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.