Discovery: Study Guide

Discovery refers to the preliminary phase in the UX-design process that involves researching the problem space, framing the problem(s) to be solved, and gathering enough evidence and initial direction on what to do next.

Discovery sets teams up for success by ensuring they focus on the right problems to solve and, subsequently, on the right solutions. Many teams skip this important step of the design process but it’s crucial to building the right thing.

Understanding Discovery

There are many misconceptions around discovery. Some teams mistake discovery to be about generating and testing solution ideas, rather than learning about the problem to be solved. UX practitioners often have to explain to stakeholders what discovery is and guide team members through the discovery process.

Use the articles and videos in this section to understand what discovery is, why we do it, and what’s involved.

Starting the Discovery Process

When starting discovery, teams need to align on the goal for their discovery and how they want to work together. Doing so will set the discovery off on the right foot and ensure that the time spent in discovery is productive. UX practitioners may need to help their colleagues adopt the right mindset and frame the problem to be explored.

Conducting Discovery Research

Teams conduct several types of research in discovery: user research, business research and analysis, and even technical research, where available technologies and capabilities are explored.

User research in discovery is often qualitative and exploratory, so it can answer the important “why”-questions around users’ needs, motivations, and behaviors. Team members often conduct research with small samples of target users but triangulate research data from multiple methods and sources to have greater confidence in their findings. Use this collection of links to get familiar with which research methods are available and how to conduct them.

Synthesizing Discovery Research

After conducting research, the team must identify important themes that can help them solve the problem. Analysis involves breaking down and inspecting the data collected, while synthesis involves making sense of data from multiple sources and perspectives. As teams start to synthesize data, they may create visual artifacts to create a shared understanding of what they have learned about their users or the problem space.

Use this collection of links to learn how you can analyze your discovery research with your team and create a shared understanding of what you have learned in discovery.

Wrapping Up Discovery

After creating alignment on what the team learned in discovery, teams move on to write up their findings and prepare for ideation. Discovery often ends with several ideas or opportunity statements a team will explore in the next stage of the design process.