Discovery is a discipline. At Amazon, it was Learn and Be Curious. At Simmons, it’s no different. I try not to ignore or over index on what larger or wildly successful organizations do. Instead I want to build a discovery practice that exposes my team and I to many perspectives and then filters for our context.
When we approach technology decisions as one-time evaluations, we’re at the mercy of whoever is loudest at that moment. That’s usually vendors, “influencers”, or internal advocates with strong opinions. Rarely do we get a balanced view of alternatives, trade-offs, and lessons learned.
A discovery practice changes that. It means continuously building your understanding of what’s possible, what’s proven, and what’s failed. It means cultivating sources you trust and while stress-testing your assumptions before you have to decide.
For me, it’s a number of things. Building cross-industry peer relationships. The person who has solved a problem similar to yours might not be in your industry at all. A healthcare fractional CISO might have insights about data governance that translate directly to manufacturing. A financial services leader might have found a workforce skill challenge you’re struggling with. Diversity of experience beats pedigree. How broad is the experience pool you’re pulling from? Is it the same peer group you’ve had for years?
Learning frameworks like NIST CSF, TOGAF, or ISO/IEC 38500 gives you mental models that transfer across tools and contexts. Frameworks build judgment while tools build proficiency. You need both, but judgment compounds, especially in this AI era of information overload.
Start with your needs, not tools or solutions. The first step in any tech decision should be crystal-clear: What problem are we actually solving? What do we truly need? This sounds basic, yet it’s constantly overlooked. We rush into evaluations or default to “safe” choices before defining success. That skips the hard work of understanding requirements and often means overlooking new entrants or missing better options, new capabilities, or real competitive advantage.
My go-to is a personal learning board of diverse, independent sources.
National outlets, regional publications, local meetups, peer groups, vendor-neutral conferences, industry associations, podcasts, volunteer boards, or even connecting with local legal or CPA groups needing CPEs.
These opportunities rarely arrives via private LinkedIn DMs promising podcast spots, $400 gift cards for a quick call, or bottles of whiskey from vendors in exchange for 30 minutes on your calendar.
What peer groups are you part of? What broad sources are you putting on your playlist? What publications do you trust for unbiased perspective? You may be flying blind in a landscape full of people trying to influence you. That’s a dangerous place to be.
Discovery is one of my favorite parts of my role. Make it part of your ritual, not just what happens once a year when a contract is up for renewal.