Three benefits of Discovery

I lead our User Experience (UX) team and run most of our discovery phases. I have worked with clients with a wide range of different digital goals, operating in different markets and trying to reach vastly different audiences.

Our Discovery phase takes the form of a series of workshops where we, agency and client, build a detailed collective understanding of your digital project and service. The final output is typically a set of user stories with estimates and wireframes.

Here, I highlight three benefits of Discovery that clients have shared with me.

1. Build trust and relationships

Whilst we’d love to believe after a pitch we have your 100% trust we know that can’t be the case.

You’re typically a little nervous about whether you’ve picked the right agency. And we’re a little nervous about the new project and what kind of client you’ll be too.

It’s amazing the impact opening communication channels and putting a name to a face during Discovery can have on the success of a project.

2. Scope your project with digital experts

You know your business and your customers inside out. However, translating that knowledge into a digital solution isn’t necessarily your specialism. Discovery gives you access to a multidisciplinary team of UX designers, solutions architects and digital strategists to help with this.

We don’t always scope the full project upfront; we recently won a pitch to build a knowledge sharing platform for a multi-national publisher by demonstrating that user research and evolving feature releases would be a much lower risk way to succeed than just building their whole project scope in one hit. This approach is often described as creating a minimum viable product (MVP).

Some early internal scoping can be useful, it can often give your agency a quicker insight into the nature and ambitions of the project. It is also a good starting point for validating that internal stakeholders have a common vision and getting the all important buy-in.

During Discovery you will get to know your agency, share knowledge, work through solutions and build a collective vision of the project.

3. Reduce risk

It’d be a pretty risky project to commission your dream house without architect’s plans and budget. So why embark on a digital project without having thought through the business problem and potential solutions in detail upfront?

Discovery gives us time to better understand the problem and our options based on the goals and research we discuss together. It’s more efficient, more accurate and less risky for clients as once we start building, you’ve got greater confidence that you’re investing in the right digital platform.

Additionally, the accurate cost and project plan that comes from Discovery makes managing expectations easier and significantly reduces the risk of having to go back with an empty budget pot and ask for more later.

Please contact [email protected] for more details on our Discovery.