Discovery is the first stage of the Change lifecycle for strategic projects. Business Executives work with Product Managers on high-level ideation, estimation and prioritization. Discovery ends when a project is ready for planning, or when we decide not to do it.
What it is
Discovery answers three questions before anyone commits a team:
- Is it worth doing? A one-page business case says what problem we solve, for whom, and how we'll know it worked.
- Roughly how big is it? A high-level design and a T-shirt estimate give a size we can plan with.
- Is it more important than everything else? Portfolio prioritization ranks it against the other ideas competing for the same capacity.
Discovery is for strategic projects only. Discretionary work goes straight into a Home Team's backlog after a light intake. See Run, Change and Discretionary work to check which path an idea takes.
The two gates
An idea passes two decisions on its way through Discovery.
- Gate 1: Idea accepted. At the intake review, a Product Manager and a Business Executive sponsor agree that the business case is worth more work. The idea then gets a high-level design and an estimate.
- Gate 2: Ready for planning. The project has a reviewed high-level design, a T-shirt size of L or smaller, and a portfolio ranking above the cut line for the coming quarter. It moves to Planning.
An idea that stops at either gate is recorded with the reason, so it can come back later if things change.
Who's involved
- Product Manager: leads Discovery. You write the business case, run the design review and present the project at portfolio prioritization.
- Program Manager: runs T-shirt estimation and brings the capacity forecast that sets the portfolio cut line.
- Business Executives: sponsor ideas, confirm the business value and agree the final ranking.
- Product Owners and senior engineers from the affected Home Teams join the design review and estimation.
Typical timing
Most ideas take 3 to 6 weeks from intake to Gate 2. Intake reviews run every two weeks, and portfolio prioritization runs monthly, so an idea is ready in time for the next Quarterly Planning session.
How it connects
Discovery feeds Planning. The outputs of Gate 2 are the inputs to resource and capacity planning and to goals and milestones.