Let's Read Continuous Discovery Habits Together (July 2026)

July 7, 2026

1:06

Let's Read Continuous Discovery Habits Together (July 2026)

Here's something surprising — research shows that generating lots of ideas actually leads to better ones, not fewer. And get this, Teresa Torres points out that traditional brainstorming often stalls because it’s too focused on immediate evaluation or jumping to the first idea. Instead, she suggests a method: teams should aim for 15-20 ideas per opportunity, using individual work, sharing, and then refining. This approach unlocks more creativity and helps avoid common traps like sticking to obvious options or loving an idea too soon. Torres emphasizes that individuals tend to come up with more diverse ideas than groups, but combining both can be powerful. Plus, she recommends dot-voting to quickly narrow choices — focusing on which ideas best address the actual problem, not just the coolest ones. If this pattern holds, the teams who master supercharged ideation will be the ones who stay adaptable, not just confident in their first shot. That’s the key to staying ahead in a fast-changing world.

Continuous Discovery Habits turned five this year. And to celebrate we are reading the book together.

Each month, I am releasing an in-depth reading guide that includes:

The chapters we will be reading
A preview of the most important concepts we'll be learning about
Short videos you can share with friends and colleagues to help spread the ideas
Individual and team discussion questions to help you absorb and engage with the reading
Team exercises to help you put the ideas into practice
Additional reading to help you go deeper on the core ideas

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.

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

Chapters:

Chapter 8: Supercharged Ideation

Estimated reading time: ~18 minutes

This chapter will introduce you to:

Why quantity of ideas leads to quality—your first idea is rarely your best idea
The four reasons traditional brainstorming doesn't work (and what to do instead)
How to generate 15-20 ideas for a single opportunity without getting stuck
Why individuals outperform groups at ideation—and how to get the best of both
Using dot-voting to whittle ideas down to three for a compare-and-contrast decision

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.

Generating enough ideas - Getting to 3 good ideas for a compare and contrast decision

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 chapter challenges how most of us think about ideation. We've all been taught that brainstorming is the answer, but research tells a different story. This month, focus on examining your own relationship with idea generation and where you might be falling into common traps.

Individual Reflection

Think about the last time your team generated ideas for a solution. Did you generate multiple ideas for one opportunity, or did you generate one idea per opportunity? What was the outcome?
When you ideate, where do you get stuck? Is it after the first few obvious ideas? Do you struggle with wild ideas that feel unrealistic? Or do you find it hard to avoid jumping into evaluation mode too early?
Be honest: Do you have a favorite idea right now that you're pushing for? What assumptions are you making about why it's the best option? Are you falling in love with your idea before testing it?

Team Discussion

Walk through your team's typical ideation process. Does it look more like traditional brainstorming (everyone sharing ideas out loud) or more like the individual-then-share approach the chapter recommends? What's working and what isn't?
Pick one opportunity from your current tree. As a team, can you generate 15-20 ideas for how to address it? If you get stuck before reaching 15, use the chapter's techniques: look at analogous products, consider extreme users, or think about wild ideas.
Discuss: When you evaluate ideas as a team, do you tend to set up "whether or not" decisions (Is this idea good?) or "compare and contrast" decisions (Which of these ideas looks best?)? How might you shift to more compare-and-contrast decisions?

Put It Into Practice

The best way to learn supercharged ideation is to practice it with your team. These exercises will help you put the concepts into action and discover what works best for your context.

Exercise: Generate 15-20 Ideas for One Opportunity

Time: 45-60 minutes
Do this: With your product trio (and consider inviting other team members for more diversity)

Choose a target opportunity from your opportunity solution tree. Set a timer and go through this process:

Individual ideation (5 minutes): Everyone generates ideas on their own. Aim for at least 7-10 ideas each. Write them down on sticky notes or in a shared doc.
Share round one (15 minutes): Take turns sharing your ideas. No evaluation yet—just share and ask clarifying questions if needed.
Individual ideation round two (5 minutes): Generate more ideas individually. The first round should have sparked new thinking. Push yourself to consider analogous products, extreme users, or wild ideas.
Share round two (15 minutes): Share your new ideas with the group.
Review and refine (10 minutes): Count your ideas. Did you reach 15-20? If not, do another quick round. Then, review the list together and remove any ideas that don't actually address the target opportunity.

What did you learn? Were your later ideas more creative than your earlier ones? How did hearing others' ideas spark new thinking for you?

Exercise: Practice Dot-Voting

Time: 20 minutes
Do this: With your product trio

Using the 15-20 ideas you generated in the previous exercise, practice using dot-voting to narrow down to three ideas:

Set the criteria: Remind everyone that you're voting based on how well each idea addresses the target opportunity—not on feasibility, not on how "cool" it is.
Vote (5 minutes): Give each person three votes. You can put all three on one idea, split them across three ideas, or any combination.
Review the results (10 minutes): Which ideas got the most votes? If it's clear that three ideas stand out, you're done. If several ideas have similar vote counts, take a few minutes for people to advocate for their top picks, then vote again.
Check alignment (5 minutes): Once you have your top three, do a quick poll: Is everyone excited about at least one of these ideas? Does each idea have a strong advocate on the team?

Save these three ideas—you'll use them for assumption testing in Chapter 9.

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.

Supplementary Reading

Other Voices

On the Quest for Originality, Recombine the Familiar by Adam Alter
Creativity Is Not an Accident by Scott Berkun
A Data-Driven Approach to Group Creativity by Bastian Bergmann and Joe Schaeppi

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.

Thursday, September 17, 2026: 9am-10am PDT and 4pm-5pm PDT
Wednesday, December 16, 2026: 9am-10am PST and 4pm-5pm PST

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 5-year anniversary of Continuous Discovery Habits. See all book club posts

Audio Transcript