CarMax Continuous Discovery

This case study examines how a mature CarMax product team elevated their user research practices from ad-hoc customer discovery to a systematic continuous discovery approach. The Digital Merchandising team, responsible for helping customers "fall in love with cars," already had strong discovery fundamentals but struggled with organizing insights and making customer interviews more actionable. They were conducting weekly customer interviews but often ended up with "100 Post-its but no clear takeaways," and their experiments tested multiple assumptions simultaneously, slowing iteration.

Working with product coach Teresa Torres, the team implemented structured continuous discovery practices centered around the opportunity solution tree framework. Key changes included: engaging with 2-4 customers weekly regardless of having something to test, designing focused experiments that test individual assumptions rather than multiple hypotheses at once, and prioritizing desirability testing before usability testing. They shifted from viewing experiments solely as A/B tests to seeing them as any method for gathering assumption-validating data.

The results were significant improvements in efficiency and customer alignment. The team became more methodical in identifying opportunities, could "fail fast" with greater confidence, and moved from learning only when building high-fidelity prototypes to constantly learning through deliberate assumption testing. For product managers, key takeaways include: maintain consistent customer contact beyond validation needs, use visual frameworks like opportunity solution trees to organize discovery work, design simple experiments targeting specific assumptions, and test customer desire before investing in usability improvements.