September 19, 2024
The discovery phase can sometimes feel like a necessary but frustrating investment.
It can be a hard sell, both for agencies who are nervous about committing to building something without knowing the full implications, and internally, where budget holders need convincing to sign off on something with very little tangible output.
And it's a risk for both parties, because it can be unclear going in if there will be enough budget left at the end of it to actually deliver the identified solution.
Those challenges arise because many agencies tend to have a 'one size fits all' approach to discovery. Over the years I've found there are actually many different flavours of discovery, each doing slightly different jobs.
For example:
"What can we do for the budget"
Sometimes there is already an overall budget set budget decided in quarterly planning; or perhaps it's been handed down from HQ for a local activation. Either way, cost is the primary constraining factor, and discovery needs to be about delivering the required outcome, with the most impact, within the available budget.
This type of discovery requires a lot of lateral thinking and collaboration between design and development, to find practical ideas and clever, cost effective solutions.
"How much will this idea cost"
Conversely, sometimes discovery is a precursor to a budget ask. We have a high level idea, but need to know roughly how much it will take to deliver something of value (and what the returns might look like) before deciding whether to proceed.This type of phase requires concepting out the ideal solution in enough detail to minimise uncertainty, validate demand, and rough out some ballparks.
Usually it's also necessary to have a few modular elements for the inevitable negotiation that will follow a budget ask.Of course with experience it's always possible to do a finger in the air, but the risk of undershooting can result in that tricky situation of not enough budget combined with a commitment to deliver something! (enter the first type again!).
"How do we address this issue?"
There are occasionally situations where cost is less of a constraint, and the focus is more around finding the optimal solution to an issue. Of course good discovery should always be cost conscious, but in this scenario exploring solutions to answer a user need or business problem is the primary driving factor. This type of discovery will often require more strategic exploration and iteration than other types, and might result in a range of options at different budget points.
"Should we even do this?"
Finally there's the type of discovery that's about establishing a business case for an idea versus the do-nothing scenario.
This involves exploring whether it's of value to deliver the idea, and importantly just because we can do it, whether or not we should!
Understanding the question you're trying to answer, and then tailoring the process accordingly, can help avoid many of those pitfalls, and make sell in conversations much easier. Start by asking what the constraining factors are to the problem that needs solving: is it time, budget, an existing outline idea, or some other external requirement, and then structure your activity around meeting those constraints.
