By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
This Product in Practice feature profiles Lisa Orr, a former data scientist turned product manager at Airship, who leads discovery for the orchestration product area with coaching from Teresa Torres. It shows how a broad, hard product problem, coordinating marketing messages across channels, widened once customer research revealed that marketers also struggle with managing journeys over time. The article walks through how Lisa used a week-long design sprint to turn research into a vision and roadmap, and how an intensive beta for Airship Journeys surfaced simpler UX, customer proof, and internal buy-in for continuous discovery. It matters because it gives a concrete, real-world example of adopting continuous discovery in a company just starting out.
01Key takeaways
- Revisit an initial problem definition during discovery; the real challenge may be broader than the first framing, such as adding time to cross-channel messaging.
- Consider how long your users stay in their roles and what quick, visible impact they need from a new feature.
- Use a design sprint to convert accumulated customer research into an overarching vision that can be ranked and fed into the roadmap.
- On Day 5 of a sprint, make assumption testing with customer prototypes the explicit goal rather than polishing a solution.
- Propose a beta program before general availability to debug, de-risk, and generate customer stories that build internal enthusiasm.
- Share customer recordings and invite colleagues to observe prototype tests to make research accessible across the company.
02Key sections
- From data science to product management
- Lisa moved from building predictive models to leading product, and noticed that the team had led with what could be predicted rather than with customer trust. She saw that discovery would have produced a better product.
- Reframing orchestration as a journey problem
- What began as cross-channel messaging turned out to be about designing user journeys across both channels and time, including reacting to whether customers engaged. The team broadened its opportunity map accordingly.
- Widening from features to customer impact
- Because marketers stay in roles only about two years, they need quick, measurable impact from new tools. This led to three opportunities: safe testing, easy KPI tracking, and easy understanding of the tool.
- Running a design sprint to set direction
- Lisa ran a week-long sprint that mapped the discovery loop onto five days, using assumption testing on Day 5 to turn research into a vision that could be prioritized and fed into the roadmap. It also secured leadership buy-in.
- Beta testing Airship Journeys
- A one-month beta with 18 onboarded customers simplified a journey-builder UI that marketers found overly complex, produced case studies and quotes for launch, and convinced skeptical colleagues of discovery's value.
03From the post
“Hello, Product Talk readers! It’s time for another installment of Product in Practice. In this series, we highlight the impressive work that forward-thinking product teams are doing. Want to check out the other people and companies we’ve featured? Find our other Product in Practice posts here. Ask”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.