Start Talking to Customers

If you aren’t familiar with the concept of a keystone habit, it comes from Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Duhigg argues, “Keystone habits start a process that, over time, transforms everything.” They are habits that, once adopted, drive the adoption of other habits.

For most people, exercise is a keystone habit. When we exercise regularly, we naturally tend to eat better, we have more energy, and thus we are more productive at work. For others, making your bed each morning is a keystone habit. It sets the tone of rigor and discipline from the start of your day. This is why many military leaders advocate for this habit.

To be clear, it’s not that exercise makes you eat better or making your bed makes you more disciplined, but doing the former makes the latter easier. The keystone habit builds motivation for the subsequent habits.

I’ve noticed this exact pattern emerge among product teams who develop a weekly habit of customer interviews. When product teams engage with their customers week over week, they don’t just get the benefit of interviewing more often—they also start rapid prototyping and experimenting more often. They remember to doubt what they know and to test their assumptions. They do a better job of connecting what they are learning from their research activities with the product decisions they are making. This is why a weekly touchpoint with customers is a key part of the definition of continuous discovery that you were introduced to in Chapter 1.

I believe continuous interviewing is a keystone habit for continuous discovery. Of all the habits in this book, if you are looking for one place to get started, this is it.

If you’re wondering how you’re going to make this happen, I hear you. I’ve worked with dozens of teams who have genuinely struggled to find customers to talk to. They aren’t allowed to build recruiting hooks into the product. Their sales and account-management teams want to own the relationship and be the go-between, rather than let product people have direct access. Their customers are busy doctors or secretive investors or high-powered CEOs. I can’t tell you how to overcome all of these obstacles. I know from working with many teams that every situation is unique.

But I can tell you that there is a way. Even in the most challenging situations, the teams I’ve worked with have chipped away at getting more access to their customers. They’ve taken a continuous-improvement approach to the challenge. If they have never talked to a customer, they start small and try to find a single customer to talk to. If they can’t do even that, they start by talking with someone who is similar to their customers. They use each conversation to get introduced to another person to talk to. They make next week look better than last week. And with time, they find themselves on a path to continuous interviewing.

No matter your situation, this is the habit to start with.