The Importance of Discovery in Agile Development
By Ryan Fullmer
December 26, 2022
It's important to take the time to fully understand the customer's problem before jumping to a solution. This might seem obvious, but it's easy for teams to decide on a solution based on initial assumptions about the problem and ideas on how to solve it. This can be especially true when the situation is complex or the context is constantly changing.
Discovery
A discovery process can make a big difference. Discovery allows the team to fully understand the problem and deliver a valuable solution that addresses the need. But how can you ensure that your discovery process is effective?
Here are some steps to follow:
- Define the problem: Clearly understand the problem and context.
- Identify who it's for: Identify the primary customers and stakeholders that have the problem, and build empathy by understanding their perspective.
- Capture constraints: Identify any constraints, limitations, or external factors that could impact the solution.
- Define the outcomes: Clearly define the outcomes you want to achieve and how you will measure success.
- Identify the challenges: Identify the challenges that need to be addressed in order to achieve the desired outcomes.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your discovery process provides clarity and alignment around the problem and context, leading to a valuable solution for your customers.
Don't rush to a solution without fully understanding the problem – take the time to conduct a thorough discovery process for long-term success.
Get the Guide to Successful Discovery
To help you get started with discovery, we put together a free-guide based on our proven approach. In this guide, you will learn a simple, yet highly effective approach that you can use right away to define:
- Why: Understand the context and why this problem is important now
- Who: Identify the primary customers and stakeholders
- Outcomes: Define the end result and how you will measure success
- Challenges: Identify issues the team will need to be aware of as
they solve the problem
Click Here to Download the Free Guide!
