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Research & Exploration

Research and exploration is an overarching term for a broad set of discovery activities that happen continuously throughout the problem lifecycle.

The main objective is to build an in-depth understanding of the problem and the most effective way to solve it.

Note

The most effective way to solve the problem may be a balance of factors such as time available, technical effectiveness and user benefits, and could well be iterative. Your research may point you to an ideal solution that you then need to work back from to explore a solution that’s viable within the constraints you have.

Components of Research and Exploration

For any piece of work, research and exploration should include activities from three key areas:

  • Problem discovery, to understand the underlying problem to be solved and the situational context around it.
  • Technical discovery, to understand potential solutions through the evaluation of existing and new technologies.
  • Solution viability, to check if the proposed solution(s) meets the needs of users, customers and the business.

Discovery Plan

The Problem Owner should start to create a discovery plan as soon as the problem is identified. It should describe the activities needed to understand the problem, and will evolve as understanding develops.

As they are identified, technical discovery activities should be added to the discovery plan, so capture work needed to explore potential solutions.

Once one or more solutions have been identified, plans to test the viability of the solutions should be added to the discovery plan.

Discovery Outputs

Any documentation created as part of discovery activities, along with findings, should be saved centrally and shared with identified stakeholders. The findings from research and exploration activities should be used to inform problem and requirements definition, as well as solution design and success planning.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities Owner Responsibility
Problem Owner The person accountable for ensuring the planned solution addresses the defined problem
Product Lead The person accountable for ensuring the planned solution is aligned with the overarching product strategy
Engineering Owner The person accountable for ensuring the planned solution is aligned with the overarching tech strategy
UX Lead The person responsible for creating UI/UX design outputs
Delivery Team The group responsible for conducting and completing all solution design activities and outputs, and ensuring designs are fully explored and validated

Triggers

Research and exploration should never be limited to a single point in time, however it is essential to ensure effective discovery has been conducted before: