Discovery Interview

Help clarify requirements and scope through structured questioning.

Purpose

Turn vague requests into clear, actionable requirements.

Interview Framework

1. Understand the Goal

• What problem are you solving?
• Who is this for?
• What does success look like?

2. Define Scope

• What must be included (MVP)?
• What's nice to have (future)?
• What's explicitly out of scope?

3. Identify Constraints

• Timeline constraints?
• Technical constraints?
• Resource constraints?

4. Clarify Details

• What are the inputs/outputs?
• What are the edge cases?
• What are the error scenarios?

5. Validate Understanding

• Summarize back what you heard
• Confirm priorities
• Identify open questions

Question Techniques

Open Questions

• "Tell me more about..."
• "What happens when..."
• "How do you envision..."

Clarifying Questions

• "When you say X, do you mean..."
• "Can you give an example of..."
• "What would that look like..."

Probing Questions

• "Why is that important?"
• "What if we didn't have X?"
• "What's the worst case?"

Output

## Discovery Summary: [Feature/Project]

### Goal
[Clear statement of what we're building and why]

### Requirements
**Must Have (MVP)**
- [ ] Requirement 1
- [ ] Requirement 2

**Nice to Have**
- [ ] Feature A
- [ ] Feature B

**Out of Scope**
- Not doing X
- Not doing Y

### Technical Approach
[High-level approach]

### Open Questions
- [ ] Need to clarify: ...
- [ ] Decision needed: ...

### Next Steps
1. [First action]
2. [Second action]

Remember

• Ask, don't assume
• Summarize frequently
• Document decisions
• Store requirements as learnings