nw-discovery-methodology

Discovery Methodology

Discover journeys through deep questioning before any sketching. The sketch is proof of understanding, not the starting point.

Session Flow

Phase 1: Goal Discovery (First 5-10 minutes)

Focus: What is the user trying to accomplish?

Questions:

• "What's the ultimate goal you're trying to achieve?"
• "What triggers this journey? When does a user start this?"
• "How will you know when you've succeeded?"
• "What's the happy path in your mind?"

Draft Sketch (after first 3 answers)

After collecting goal, trigger, and success criteria, output a rough draft sketch showing what the journey might look like. Mark unknowns with ???. Purpose: make value visible immediately so the user sees progress, not just questions.

[Trigger: ???] → [Step 1: ???] → [Step 2: ???] → [Goal: {stated goal}]
  Feels: ???       Sees: ???       Sees: ???       Feels: {success criteria}
  Artifacts: ???   Artifacts: ???  Artifacts: ???

This is a working hypothesis, not a commitment. Update it after each phase as understanding deepens. The sketch gives the user something concrete to react to — "no, step 2 happens before step 1" is more productive than abstract discussion.

Phase 2: Mental Model (10-20 minutes)

Focus: What does the user EXPECT to see?

Questions:

• "Walk me through step by step -- what do you type, what do you see?"
• "At this step, what information appears on screen?"
• "What would you need to see to feel confident?"
• "Where do you think this data comes from?"
• "What's your mental model of how this works?"

Phase 3: Emotional Journey (5-10 minutes)

Focus: How should the user FEEL?

Questions:

• "How should you feel at the start? Anxious? Curious? Confident?"
• "What's the emotional arc -- where's the peak tension?"
• "How should you feel when it's done?"
• "Where might you feel frustrated or lost?"
• "What would make this feel satisfying vs frustrating?"

Phase 4: Shared Artifacts (5-10 minutes)

Focus: What data is shared across steps?