Series · 5 lessons · 21 September 2026
The Discovery Phase: Setting a Project Up to Succeed Before Requirements Even Start
A project I was brought into midway had beautifully written requirements. Clear acceptance criteria, a proper sign-off trail, nothing technically wrong with…
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Day 1 · 4 min read
Why Most Projects Fail Before Requirements Even Start
A project I was brought into midway had beautifully written requirements. Clear acceptance criteria, a proper sign-off trail, nothing technically wrong with…
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Day 2 · 5 min read
The Five Things Discovery Actually Has to Answer
Discovery does not need to answer everything knowable about a project before requirements work begins. Trying to do so is exactly what turns a two-day…
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Day 3 · 5 min read
Framing the Problem Before the Solution
A stakeholder once opened a discovery session with a fully formed request. We need a new dashboard; can we scope that? Six weeks in, on the original framing…
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Day 4 · 4 min read
Naming the Unknowns: Scoping What You Don't Know Yet
Every project has at least one part that is genuinely unknown at the start, not vague, not simply unclear, actually unknown in the sense that nobody on the…
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Day 5 · 5 min read
From Discovery to a Requirements
Ready Brief