It is important to fully understand the design challenge by asking the right questions early and often. The following is a guideline that I use for every project at the beginning of the discovery phase.

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What are the goals?

• What are the business goals?‍
• What is the business outcome hypothesis?
• What is the user goals & objectives?

What are the success metrics?

• How does it affect the user
• What value does it bring?

What are the risks?

• What are the constraints or unknowns?
• Are there any design considerations?
• Are there any cross functional team dependancies?

What are the project expectations?

• What are the project deadlines?
• What type of research is expected?
• What are the expected sprint ceremonies?

What kind of feature is it?

• Feature enhancement
• Feature redesign
• New feature

What is the problem level?

• Problem complexity: Low  Med  High‍
• UX Risk: Low Med High

What is the problem statement?

• What are we building and why?
• What are the user pain points?