Discovery Phase

A PRD (Product Requirements Document) is a clear, structured description of what a product must do, for whom, and why. In the discovery stage, it aligns business goals, user needs, and technical constraints into a single source of truth. It prevents teams from building the wrong thing by forcing assumptions, scope, and success criteria to be made explicit early. For engineering and delivery, it reduces rework, scope creep, and miscommunication with stakeholders.

Without a PRD, discovery becomes guesswork instead of a controlled, testable decision-making process.

A High-Level Requirements List defines the core capabilities of the product and clearly outlines the MVP scope. It aligns stakeholders on boundaries, preventing overengineering and uncontrolled scope expansion. For the team, it enables rough estimation and sequencing decisions.

Without it, MVP discussions stay abstract and delivery risk increases due to unclear priorities.

User Stories describe product requirements from the end-user’s perspective, focusing on value rather than implementation. In the discovery stage, they help validate real user needs and expose gaps in assumptions. They translate high-level requirements into actionable, testable units of work. User Stories also support prioritization by linking features directly to user outcomes.

Without them, teams risk building technically correct solutions that fail to solve real user problems.

An Interactive Prototype is a clickable representation of the product’s core user flows. In the discovery stage, it allows stakeholders and users to validate ideas before any code is written. It quickly exposes usability issues, missing flows, and incorrect assumptions. For the team, it creates a shared understanding of behavior, not just features.

Without an interactive prototype, feedback comes later, when changes are far more expensive.

A Technical Architecture Document defines how the system will be built and how its components interact. In the discovery stage, it validates technical feasibility, scalability, and key trade-offs early. It aligns business requirements with concrete technology, infrastructure, and integration decisions. For the team, it reduces delivery risk by clarifying structure, security, and future extensibility before implementation.

Without it, teams make architectural decisions reactively, leading to rework and long-term technical debt.

A Feasibility Assessment evaluates whether the product can realistically be built as envisioned. During discovery, it validates the technical approach and exposes constraints, dependencies, and external risks early. It reduces uncertainty around third-party integrations by assessing APIs, limits, and failure points. For stakeholders, it provides risk visibility along with concrete mitigation and contingency plans.

Without a feasibility assessment, teams commit to timelines and scopes based on assumptions rather than evidence.

An Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) defines the system’s data model by mapping entities, attributes, and their relationships. In the discovery stage, it validates how business requirements translate into a scalable and consistent data structure. It ensures alignment between product logic, integrations, and database design. For data-heavy systems, it highlights data volume, migration needs, and long-term maintainability concerns.

Without an ERD, data assumptions remain implicit, leading to schema rework, integration issues, and data inconsistencies later in development.

Low-fidelity design represents the product’s structure and flows using simple wireframes or sketches. In the discovery stage, it helps validate layout, navigation, and user logic without investing in visual polish. It encourages fast feedback and iteration by keeping discussions focused on functionality, not aesthetics. For the team, it clarifies scope and reduces misunderstandings before detailed design begins.

Without low-fidelity design, usability issues surface late, when changes are costlier to fix.

High-fidelity design is a detailed, visually polished representation of the final user interface and interactions. In the discovery stage, it validates usability, branding, and user expectations before development starts. It removes ambiguity by specifying exact layouts, behaviors, and visual standards. For the team, it enables accurate estimation and faster implementation with fewer design-related questions.

Without high-fidelity design, teams risk misaligned expectations and costly UI rework during development.