The Fatal Flaw of Fixed Planning and the Need for Continuous Product Discovery
In Waterfall development, the process starts with Speculative Planning. This means defining all requirements and scope months, or even a year, before building anything. This approach rests on two big mistakes: thinking the team knows exactly what the customer needs now, and assuming the market will stay still until launch. The only proven way to fix this disconnect is by adopting Continuous Product Discovery. This method replaces old, static plans with constant, active learning. This misalignment between planning and reality is the main reason for the “64% Problem”: you end up with features that work perfectly but nobody uses.
The moment a requirements document receives approval, it starts becoming obsolete. New competitors pop up, user habits change, and company goals shift. The plan quickly becomes a time capsule of old guesses. Process rules then force teams to stick to this old plan, which leads to massive wasted money.
The Problem with Planning in Isolation
Speculative Planning fails because it uses facts from only one point in time. It completely ignores the need for continuous learning.
- The Guesswork Trap: What the team knows and imagines today limits the plans. They often miss real user problems or new opportunities the market hasn’t shown yet.
- The Knowledge Decay Curve: Every week spent building from an old plan without validation, the requirements become less useful. You lose value, even if your team works quickly.
- The Sunk Cost Mentality: Once a huge plan receives approval, companies feel locked in. This makes it incredibly hard to stop or change a feature, even when data clearly shows it is failing.
Continuous Product Discovery: A Better Way
Continuous Product Discovery is the essential, ongoing work of lowering risk and checking customer needs while the development team builds. It is the active work of making sure the team builds the right thing before they focus on building it right.
This method replaces that speculative upfront plan with constant learning:
- Check Your Assumptions: Discovery uses frequent, small experiments (like prototypes, interviews, and simple tests) to check the riskiest ideas before teams write production code.
- Stay Relevant: Discovery work runs 2-3 Sprints ahead of the builders. This process constantly feeds the backlog with fresh, proven information. This ensures the team is always working on the most relevant need.
- Focus on Results, Not Tasks: Discovery changes the conversation from “Did we finish the feature?” to “Did the feature solve the customer problem?” Focusing on value eliminates the waste of building unused features.
The Discovery Advantage
Teams that use Discovery are not just fast; they are more accurate. They transform planning from a frustrating roadblock into a continuous, data-driven activity.
- De-Risking Investment: Discovery confirms customer demand, technical possibility, and business success on a rolling basis. This reduces the risk of wasting money.
- Prioritizing Real Value: Discovery prioritizes the backlog based on evidence. It ignores who shouts the loudest or what the oldest document says.
- Building the Right Product: Instead of just finishing a fixed plan, Discovery ensures the team is always building the features that give the best return on investment (ROI).
Continuous Discovery is the antidote to the “64% Problem.” It focuses the development cycle completely on creating verified value for your customer.
