Discovery

Purpose

Our first job on a project is get everyone involved aligned on the project goal.

Our discovery process is designed specifically to do that, and then to prototype working technology to start delivering value as early as possible.

Scope

The agenda of for a kick-off meeting, and next steps.

Kick-off Meeting

Before starting the project, ensure the Project Structure is set up.

For the Kick-off Meeting, meet the product owner (client) in person or over video chat.

Text based interaction isn’t good enough for these critical questions.

Get an initial understanding of the problem, and the impact of solving it.
Start the stakeholder map, so we can loop those people in and make them feel part of the team.
Get clarity and empathy on what the users really need, and set the process underway to refine that knowledge (Get buy-in on user research).

Clearly define the problem:

What problem does this project solve, for whom? This should be a list of the personas, and high level stories (also called value hypothesis or value proposition or “Epics”).
How are the users currently solving or working around the problem?
What is the SINGLE most important benefit you expect this project to provide to the user? How much is this worth? Is it worth the effort?

Describe the impact of solving the problem:

What does success look like for you (qualitatively)? Provide as much detail as possible about that vision.
How will success overall be measured (what numbers would move)?
What is the ideal overall measurable impact of the project to the organization? What about on those it serves? It’s important for the whole team to be aligned on what this impact is.

Identify stakeholders:

Identify roles on project team: scrum master (Countable), product owner (usually client, assisted by UX researcher), developers.
Please begin a list of user interviewees including their contact info. This should be a list of (2-6) people who will actually use the product.
Who else is involved with, affected by, or has input into this project, and how? It’s important we hear the needs of each stakeholder and share with the team.
Who will we get to work with and in what capacity? (make a list) Book dates/times to meet them. Book any travel plans necessary.

Next Steps (discuss and assign who does each, by when):

What assets and access is required for the project and who will provide it, by when?
Set up a weekly or bi-weekly sprint meeting with product owner and team.
What other meetings should we attend? Book these.
Discuss deliverables necessary at each project phase, and deadlines.
Summarize project planning materials to be created.

Project planning materials:

Include a User Experience design / user resarch plan.
Draft of User Epics (high level stories)
Critical path document.
Stakeholder map.
Architectural design and resourcing (system data flow diagram, schema, stack components)

The next phase of the project after discovery is to use the above answers to develop a user experience design research plan.

Get the Product Owner to provide 5 examples of other sites that are close to what they want.
Use the branding questionnaire.
If it’s in scope, reate brand colors, fonts, logo and visual primitives if new ones needed.
Visual mock-ups based on the wireframes using the brand styles.