Overview

Guides consultants, agencies, and service providers through problem identification, stakeholder mapping, and success criteria definition. It also scopes budgets and timelines and produces a formatted discovery brief with next steps, quantified deliverables, and benchmarks.

How This Skill Works

A structured interview guide drives conversations to uncover the client problem, map stakeholders, and define success criteria, budget, and timeline. The collected responses are compiled into a formatted discovery brief that lists deliverables, next steps, and prioritized recommendations.

When to Use It

• Kicking off a new client engagement to clarify scope
• Mapping decision-makers and stakeholder roles for a project
• Defining concrete success metrics and desired outcomes
• Scoping budget, timeline, and resource needs for a proposal
• Preparing a discovery brief to support a formal proposal or kickoff

Quick Start

1. Step 1: Prepare an interview guide, stakeholder map, and draft success criteria
2. Step 2: Conduct structured discovery interviews with key stakeholders
3. Step 3: Compile the formatted discovery brief with prioritized next steps and quantified deliverables

Best Practices

• Prepare a written problem statement and stakeholder map before interviews
• Ask for quantifiable criteria and identify decision-makers early
• Capture budget, timeline, and deliverable definitions with exact amounts or ranges
• Summarize findings in a structured discovery brief with next steps
• Validate assumptions with key stakeholders and note any follow-ups

Example Use Cases

• Onboarding a management consulting client to scope a digital transformation
• Launching a digital marketing program with multiple stakeholders and approvals
• Defining requirements for a software implementation project
• Preparing a discovery brief to win a design/branding engagement
• Clarifying scope and success criteria for an RFP response

Frequently Asked Questions