Questions to Answer:

What problem are users trying to solve?
How are they solving it today?
What's painful about current solutions?
How important is this problem?

Output:

Problem statement
User personas
Current state mapping

2. Explore Solutions

Activities:

Brainstorming
Sketching
Rapid prototyping
Expert consultation

Questions to Answer:

What solutions could address this?
What are the trade-offs of each?
What's the simplest viable solution?
What risks exist?

Output:

Solution options
Trade-off analysis
Initial wireframes

3. Validate Assumptions

Activities:

Prototype testing
User feedback sessions
A/B tests (if applicable)
Feasibility assessment

Questions to Answer:

Does this solve the user's problem?
Will users actually use this?
Can we build this?
Does it align with business goals?

Output:

Validation results
User feedback
Technical feasibility assessment

4. Define the Solution

Activities:

Requirements writing
Success metrics definition
Scope agreement
Stakeholder alignment

Output:

Clear requirements
Success criteria
Agreed scope
Stakeholder sign-off

Discovery Artifacts

Problem Statement Template

## Problem Statement

**User**: [Who experiences this problem]
**Problem**: [What they're trying to do]
**Current State**: [How they do it today]
**Pain Points**: [What makes it painful]
**Impact**: [What happens if unsolved]

Hypothesis Template

## Hypothesis

We believe that [solution]
for [user segment]
will result in [outcome]

We will know this is true when:
- [Measurable signal 1]
- [Measurable signal 2]

User Interview Guide

## Interview Guide: [Topic]

### Opening (5 min)
- Thank them for their time
- Explain purpose (learning, not selling)
- Ask permission to take notes

### Context (10 min)
- Tell me about your role
- Walk me through a typical [relevant activity]
- What tools do you use for [topic]?

### Problem Exploration (20 min)
- What's the hardest part about [topic]?
- Tell me about the last time you [experienced problem]
- How did you handle it?
- What did you try first?

### Solution Exploration (10 min)
- If you could wave a magic wand, what would change?
- Have you tried [alternative]? What happened?
- What would make you switch from current solution?

### Closing (5 min)
- Is there anything I should have asked?
- Can I follow up if I have more questions?

Discovery Anti-Patterns

Skip Discovery

"We already know what to build"

Risk: Building wrong thing
Fix: Even brief discovery reduces risk

Feature Factory

"Users asked for X, let's build X"

Risk: Building symptom fix, not solving root cause
Fix: Dig into the "why" behind requests

Solution First

"I have a great idea for..."

Risk: Solving non-problem
Fix: Start with problem, not solution

Analysis Paralysis

"We need more research"

Risk: Never shipping
Fix: Time-box discovery, ship to learn

Success Criteria for Discovery

Discovery is complete when you can confidently answer:

Problem: What specific problem are we solving?
User: For whom?
Value: Why does it matter?
Solution: What are we building?
Success: How will we know it worked?

violetio-product-discovery

Product Discovery

Overview

The Discovery Process

1. Understand the Problem