Crafting the discovery phase: First steps in effective UX projects

Description

As designers, we are tasked with tough questions every day—"Of all the information on the intranet, what should go on the home page? Which features should we prioritize to align with the market?"—but these questions often boil down to, “Should we combine products and solutions?” You can answer these questions with research, yes, but unless you understand the results in context and align the team around the direction, your project will fall apart.

Discovery is the portion of the project that incorporates research, analysis, exploration, and planning to align teams around a direction. This direction is the bedrock of subsequent design activities. It gives design teams a way to answer questions and validate their ideas; it reminds project participants what’s in scope and out of scope; and it constitutes the collective background knowledge that informs your specific product. Great discovery phases make for great projects. Dan Brown will help participants craft the perfect discovery phase.

Participants will learn:

• The essential ingredients for any discovery phase
• The range of discovery activities and how to choreograph them
• The right participants for the discovery process
• Which deliverables make the most sense in the discovery process
• How to incorporate discovery into new projects and projects in-flight