Let's Read Continuous Discovery Habits Together (April 2026)
Continuous Discovery Habits turns five this year. And to celebrate we are reading the book together.
Each month, I am releasing an in-depth reading guide that includes:
We'll be discussing each month's reading in the comment section and we'll gather quarterly to discuss on a live call.
Joining late? No problem. I monitor the comments on each reading guide throughout the year. Start with the current month or go back to January—whatever works for you. You can ask for help, share what's working, and connect with other readers at any point. You can find all of the book club articles here.
If you want to participate, grab a copy of the book (or dig up your old copy), share the "Spread the Love" videos, reserve some time to do the team exercises, and register for the community sessions. Let's do this!
This Month's Reading
Chapter:
Estimated reading time: ~37 minutes
This month's chapter will introduce you to:
Need a copy? Grab the book.
Share the Love with Friends and Colleagues
We learn best in community. Use the following short videos to share the key concepts from this chapter with friends and colleagues. Invite them to participate in the book club with you.
Reflect & Discuss What You Read
When we reflect and discuss what we read, we absorb more of the material. It helps us put what we learn into practice. Don't skip this step.
This month's chapter challenges us to build a regular habit of interviewing customers every week. It asks us to shift from asking direct questions (which invoke cognitive biases) to collecting specific stories about past behavior. For many teams, this represents a fundamental shift in how they engage with customers—moving from occasional "big research projects" to lightweight, continuous conversations that fuel daily decision-making.
Individual Reflection
Team Discussion
Put It Into Practice
Understanding the importance of continuous interviewing is one thing. Actually conducting interviews every week and synthesizing what you learn is where the real work begins. These exercises will help you build your interviewing habit and practice the skills from this chapter.
Exercise: Conduct a Story-Based Interview
Time: 20–30 minutes
Do this: With your product trio
Schedule an interview with a current customer. Instead of preparing a long list of questions, identify a handful of research questions (what you need to learn) and translate them into one story-based interview question (what you'll ask).
For example:
- What challenges do customers face when onboarding?
- Where do they get stuck?
- What are we asking them to do that they don't understand?
- How can we make it easier for them to get to the activation moment?
- Tell me about the first time you used our product.
During the interview, practice excavating the story using temporal prompts: "What happened first?" "What happened next?" "What happened before that?" When the participant starts generalizing ("I usually..." or "In general..."), gently guide them back to the specific instance.
After the interview, debrief as a trio: What did each of you hear? What opportunities did you identify? What surprised you?
Do you want personalized and detailed feedback on how well you conducted an interview? Our Interview Coach can help. Get access through our Story-Based Customer Interviews course.
Exercise: Create Your First Interview Snapshot
Time: 30 minutes
Do this: With your product trio, immediately after your interview
Using the interview snapshot template (grab one from the Supplementary Reading section below), work together to capture:
Time yourselves. As you get more practice, you should be able to complete an interview snapshot in 15–20 minutes.
Go Deeper: Additional Reading
If you prefer an audio summary of this month's reading, including the book chapters and the following resources, I've included an audio version for paid subscribers at the bottom of this post.
Related In-Depth Guides
Supplementary Reading
The Value of Continuous Interviewing:
How to Find Customers to Talk To:
What to Ask in Your Interviews:
How to Take Notes and Synthesize What You Are Learning:
Videos
Other Resources from Around the Web
Related Courses
Our Live Discussion Schedule
Our live discussion sessions are for paid subscribers. Sessions are not recorded. Invitations will go out to Supporting Members and CDH Members two weeks before the scheduled event. But reserve the time on your calendar now.
Audio Summary
This summary was produced by NotebookLM. The sources supplied were the book chapters as well as all of the additional reading.
This article is part of the CDH Book Club celebrating the five-year anniversary of Continuous Discovery Habits. See all book club posts.