Finally, you can do discovery and delivery at the same time.
You’re under pressure to ship things fast. You know lots of what you’re shipping isn’t working.
You’d love to stop and figure things out with discovery, but that’s a luxury you just don’t have.
This feels like a trade-off… take time doing discovery work OR meet your delivery targets.
Why choose, when you can have both?
That’s why I created Pivot Triggers.
The core question: what do we need to see today to feel it’s worth continuing to invest in an idea tomorrow?
Have you ever carried on with a project even after you kinda knew it wasn't going to work? Or struggled to get started on a project even though you believe it has potential? Yeah, me too.
Both cases come down to one thing: the need for better signals sooner. Signals to double down on the idea, signals to adapt it, signals to totally change course towards a better option. Because the harsh reality is that your success depends on the behaviours of people and systems that are outside your control.
I’ve seen too many teams wait far too long to look for these signals.
So with Pivot Triggers, you get lightweight scaffolding that helps you probe quickly for the signals you need. You’ll kill bad ideas fast and build true confidence and momentum around good ideas.
I’ve been counting. Over the past 6 years, Pivot Triggers has saved:
- hundreds of hours that otherwise would have been wasted in debates
- thousands of hours that otherwise would have been wasted on unnecessary rework
- tens of thousands of hours that otherwise would have been wasted building features and functionality that simply weren’t worth building.
Learn how to set your very first Pivot Triggers. This 110-minute video is an instructional walkthrough that will get you doing discovery and delivery at the same time today
Or you can get hands-on help from me, with methods tailored for your situation
I coach founders, consult closely with teams, and design bespoke training days for entire departments. Let’s have a quick chat to see how we might be able to work together. No obligations and no pressure. Book a time here: https://tidycal.com/tom.kerwin/25-minute-coffee
Questions? Confusion? Just want to nerd out about it?
If you’d like to ask something or get some advice, I love talking about this stuff. Grab a 25 minute coffee chat: https://tidycal.com/tom.kerwin/25-minute-coffee
What people have said about Pivot Triggers
“a pretty clever approach to putting the leadership mechanisms in place to avoid zombie initiatives” – Jared Spool
“a truly non-intimidating way into metrics” – a friendly designer who used it with her team
“calling it as it is and reliably pivoting when a signal flares is always hard but Pivot Triggers make it more obvious and give us clear checkpoints, which I think it perhaps one of the most valuable (if not the most valuable) part of having them.” – Danielle Lloyd, VP Product, Apploi
“One of the most useful product development tactics we used at Qubit was Pivot Triggers. This allowed us to drive strategic decisions, in an agile way, with user-centric understanding.” – Graham Cooke, ex-CEO at Qubit
Who am I? Why should you listen to me anyway?
👆Watch me talk about Pivot Triggers and other methods at UX Brighton in 2023.
I’m Tom Kerwin, creator of Pivot Triggers.
As a consultant with Trigger Strategy Group, I help founders and teams become product-market fit – without all the stress and panic.
I’m a former Head of Product Design at Relive, Apploi, and Qubit, where I tested these methods for real. Previously, I worked at several startups and co-founded two.
I’m the author of Innovation Tactics - a Pip Decks deck that’s all about making things that people want.
Ultimately, the Pivot Triggers framework boils down to three things
- A simple statement that starts better conversations with colleagues: “we’ll pivot if, by [date], when we’ve done [small probe], we see [not enough signal for us to feel confident].”
- A simple prioritisation method that enables delivery and discovery at the same time. Most teams can’t slow down for proper discovery, so Pivot Triggers fits in with that. You’ll still plan to do all the same work, just in a different order. So you’ll be able to adapt when you need to.
- A set of simple tools that’s enabled hundreds of teams to do things 1 and 2 in just a few hours. Planning with Pivot Triggers is usually at least as fast as your existing planning process, especially once you’ve got the hang of it.
Less pointless debate. Delivery and discovery at the same time. Prioritisation that maximises your ability to pivot and adapt when it’s cheap (not when it’s nearly too late). If all of that sounds good, then Pivot Triggers is designed specifically for you.
Learn more about Pivot Triggers
For self-starters, autodidacts and masochists…
I’ve included links to articles and podcasts about Pivot Triggers below. I should let you know that the framework has since evolved to become simpler and more flexible. I’m working on updating the materials soon. But if you’re comfortable filling in the gaps and figuring things out, please do. Let me know how you get on!
📝 Written interview in JP Castlin’s amazing newsletter, Strategy in Praxis
📺 Live workshop taking the Product Makers community through the Time Machine exercise.
🎧 Interview on UX Maturity Podcast (Spotify)
📃 Read the original article - it’s come a LONG way since here!
🎙 Watch the interview with Headway, where I talk through the Cheat Sheet
👨🏫 Deck for a Pivot Triggers Masterclass with Future London Academy
🃏 Pivot Triggers appears as a card in my deck Innovation Tactics:
Deprecated
Cohort-Based Course