By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
Teresa Torres announces her 2020 priorities in a public annual letter, continuing a tradition started the previous year to focus her work and filter irrelevant requests. Her core focus is refining her Continuous Discovery Habits curriculum and making it accessible through coaching, workshops, online courses, and a forthcoming book. She also lists what she is deliberately declining in 2020, such as podcasts, conferences, and consulting, to finish the book. The post matters to product leaders because it models how to set explicit priorities and a stop-doing list, and it describes the offerings that aim to spread continuous discovery practice across teams.
01Key takeaways
- Publicly state what you will and won't work on to set expectations and reduce irrelevant requests.
- Revisit a written priority list regularly to stay focused on what matters most during the year.
- Use a deliberate stop-doing list to protect time for a large, critical project.
- Offer the same material across several formats and price points so more people can access it.
- Build personal goals outside of work to prevent hyper-focus and sustain long-term engagement.
02Key sections
- Doing My Best Work
- The author identifies reading, writing, teaching, curriculum design, and community as the work that energizes her, balanced with time outside. She explains how these activities blend into her ongoing research-based approach to discovery.
- Investing in More Teams
- Her main professional goal is widening access to the discovery curriculum through coaching, public and corporate workshops, and online courses. She notes partnerships and pricing choices intended to reach teams with different budgets.
- Making Training Accessible
- She acknowledges that premium offerings are costly and points readers to free articles, the newsletter, lower-cost courses, and scholarships for those in economically constrained regions.
- What I Won't Be Doing
- A deliberate stop-doing list cuts podcasts, conferences, and most consulting in 2020 so the book can be finished, with the explicit note that the author values these opportunities.
- Balancing Work with Outside Time
- She describes a personal goal of spending more time outdoors, which she frames as essential to recharging and staying engaged with her work.
03From the post
“For many of us, the beginning of the year is a fresh start. It’s an opportunity to recommit to the things that matter most to us. Last year, I wrote “What I’m Saying No to This Year—And Why” to clearly outline what I wanted to focus on”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.