Lines of questioning — Discovery lead

Use these in conversation and when reading the pack. Under each question, note the artefact that would answer it. Unanswered questions on points 2, 6 and 7 become gaps.

Point 2 — Solve a whole problem for users

Ask:

• What is the user trying to do, in their words, and what happens if government does nothing?
• Where does that task start, and where does the user consider it finished? Which of those steps sit outside this department?
• Which existing services did you map, and where is the waste: rekeying, callbacks, casework queues, duplicate guidance?
• What policy rule turned out to be an assumption once you read it with a lawyer or a policy owner?
• Who else has a service that already does part of this, and why is joining it not the answer?
• What would a good reason to stop look like? Did you find one?
• What have you decided not to solve, and who still has to do that work for the user?

Evidence to request: problem statement written as a user outcome, map of neighbouring services, notes from policy, a decision record that includes stop and join.

Answers that indicate Met: the team can describe a user who is bounced between organisations, and they have spoken to those organisations. Stop remains a live recommendation.

Answers that indicate Not Met: the service name is the problem statement. Alpha start date is already in the portfolio plan. "Whole problem" is described as out of scope.

Point 6 — Have a multidisciplinary team

Ask:

• Who did the Discovery this month, and which discipline did each person actually practise?
• Who is the civil servant accountable for recommending stop or proceed? What evidence have they read?
• How do you reach operations, caseworkers, and policy when they are not in the squad?
• If the supplier contract ended on Friday, what would the department still understand?

Evidence to request: team shape for the phase, time allocation, named accountable owner.

Answers that indicate Met: user research, design, and technology have done first-hand work, and a civil servant can retell the findings without the supplier in the room.

Answers that indicate Not Met: one discipline "joins at Alpha". The supplier presents the pack and the civil servants have not met a user.

Point 7 — Use agile ways of working

Ask:

• Show a conclusion you abandoned because of what you learned.
• How does the sponsor see evidence, and when did they last change the brief?
• Where is the decision log, and which decisions are reversible?
• Which board is expecting a business case that assumes you will build?

Evidence to request: decision log, a changed brief, the governance calendar.

Answers that indicate Met: the team can point to a killed option and a sponsor who accepted it.

Answers that indicate Not Met: governance is a stage gate that Discovery is expected to pass. There is no record of a reversed decision.

Cross-cutting

• Are you in Discovery, or has Alpha already started under another name (a "pre-Alpha", a proof of concept, a pilot build)?
• What did you need to see before recommending a stop, and did the pack contain it?

If the team has been told the outcome in advance, red line D3 has fired.