discovery-validation

Discovery Validation

Reference

• ID: S-PROD-05
• Category: Product
• Inputs: objective description, company.config.yaml, market context
• Outputs: Discovery Validation section (appended to PRD), or "skip" verdict for common patterns
• Used by: Product Agent
• Tool scripts: ./tools/artifact/validate.sh

Purpose

Not every feature needs discovery. Authentication, CRUD, and notifications are well-understood patterns -- just build them. But novel concepts (new business models, AI-powered interfaces, marketplace dynamics) carry real uncertainty and deserve lightweight validation before committing engineering time. This skill acts as a smart filter: it classifies the objective, skips discovery for common patterns, and runs a focused validation for novel concepts.

When to Use

• Before writing a PRD for any new feature or product
• When the solopreneur/PM is unsure if an idea has legs
• When the feature involves unfamiliar territory (new market, new UX paradigm, new business model)
• The Product Agent should invoke this skill as a first step before PRD generation

Discovery Validation Procedure

Step 1: Classify Objective (Smart Filter)

Determine whether this feature needs discovery by matching it against known patterns.

COMMON PATTERNS (skip discovery -- proceed directly to PRD)

These are well-understood, solved problems with established implementation patterns:

• Authentication / login / signup / password reset
• CRUD operations (create, read, update, delete for any entity)
• Notifications (email, push, in-app)
• File uploads / media management
• Search / filtering / sorting
• Pagination
• Settings / preferences pages
• Admin panels / dashboards
• Payment integration (Stripe, PayPal)
• User profiles / account management
• Comments / ratings / reviews
• Tags / categories / labels
• Export / import (CSV, PDF, etc.)
• Webhooks / integrations with known services
• Role-based access control (RBAC)
• Audit logging
• Internationalization (i18n)

If the objective matches a common pattern:

Output: "Discovery skipped -- [feature] matches common pattern: [category]. Proceeding to PRD."

Exit the skill. No further steps needed.

NOVEL CONCEPTS (full discovery required)

These involve genuine uncertainty about problem-solution fit:

• New business model or pricing paradigm
• New market segment the product has not served before
• New UX paradigm (AI-powered interface, voice UI, AR/VR)
• Marketplace or multi-sided platform dynamics
• AI/ML-powered features without precedent in the product
• Social/community features with network effects
• Features requiring new data sources or partnerships
• Anything the solopreneur describes as "I have never built something like this"
• Gamification or behavioral mechanics
• Content creation or collaboration tools with novel workflows

If the objective matches a novel concept, proceed to Step 2.

UNCERTAIN

If the objective does not clearly fit either category, ask the user:

"This feature sits between common and novel. Should I run discovery validation or proceed directly to PRD?"

Respect the user's decision.

Step 2: Lean Canvas (for NOVEL Concepts)

Produce a one-page lean canvas covering all nine boxes. Be specific -- generic answers defeat the purpose.

Box	Prompt	Output
Problem	What are the top 3 problems this feature solves?	Specific, observable problems with evidence
Customer Segments	Who specifically has these problems?	Named persona(s) with context (role, company size, behavior)
Unique Value Proposition	Single clear compelling message	One sentence that would make the target persona stop scrolling
Solution	Top 3 features that address the problems	Concrete capabilities, not abstract descriptions
Channels	How will users discover this feature?	Specific channels (in-app prompt, email campaign, blog post, word-of-mouth)
Revenue Streams	How does this feature contribute to revenue?	Direct (new pricing tier, add-on) or indirect (retention, upsell trigger)
Cost Structure	What are the build + ongoing costs?	Engineering time estimate, infrastructure costs, third-party service costs
Key Metrics	What numbers prove this works?	2-4 specific metrics with target values
Unfair Advantage	What makes this defensible?	Data, network effects, domain expertise, integrations, brand

Step 3: Competitive Quick-Scan

Identify 3-5 closest alternatives and analyze them:

For each alternative:

• Name: Product or feature name
• How they solve the same problem: Specific approach, not vague description
• Pricing: Free, freemium, paid (with price point if known)
• Key differentiator: What they do better than others

Gap Analysis: What is missing from existing solutions? What do users complain about? Where is there whitespace?

Positioning: How will our approach be different or better? What trade-offs are we making? Why would someone switch from an existing solution?

Use WebSearch to find current competitors, recent reviews, and user complaints if needed. Do not fabricate competitor information -- if data is unavailable, state that explicitly.

Step 4: Risk Assessment

Riskiest Assumption

Identify the ONE thing that, if wrong, kills this idea. Be specific:

• Bad: "Users might not want this"
• Good: "Freelance designers earning $50-100K/year will pay $29/month for AI-generated client proposals because they currently spend 5+ hours per proposal"

Validation Approach

How to test the riskiest assumption cheaply, before building:

• Landing page with email capture (test demand)
• Concierge MVP (manual delivery of the value proposition)
• Survey of target persona (test willingness to pay)
• Wizard-of-Oz prototype (fake the backend, real the frontend)
• Competitor review mining (do users complain about the gap we would fill?)

Problem Validation Questions

Question	How to Answer
Who has this problem?	Specific persona with demographics and behavior
How painful is it? (1-10 scale)	Evidence-based: time wasted, money lost, frustration signals
How are they solving it today?	Current workarounds, tools, manual processes
Will they pay for a better solution?	Willingness-to-pay signals: existing spend, stated intent, market comps

Go/No-Go Recommendation

Based on the lean canvas, competitive scan, and risk assessment, provide one of three recommendations:

• Proceed to PRD: Evidence supports building this. Riskiest assumption is testable and the upside justifies the cost.
• Validate first: The idea has potential but the riskiest assumption is untested. Run the validation approach before committing to a PRD.
• Reconsider: Multiple red flags -- strong competition with no clear differentiator, unclear demand, or high cost with uncertain return.

Include a clear rationale for the recommendation (2-3 sentences).

Step 5: Output

Append a "Discovery Validation" section to the PRD (this is NOT a separate artifact -- it lives within the PRD):

## Discovery Validation

**Classification**: NOVEL -- [reason why this needed discovery]
**Lean Canvas**: [summary of the 9 boxes, or "See full canvas above"]
**Competitive Landscape**: [3-5 alternatives with gap analysis summary]
**Riskiest Assumption**: [the one specific thing that could kill this]
**Validation Status**: Validated / Needs Testing / Risky
**Recommendation**: Proceed to PRD / Validate first / Reconsider
**Rationale**: [2-3 sentences explaining the recommendation]

If discovery was skipped (common pattern), the PRD should include a brief note:

## Discovery Validation

**Classification**: COMMON PATTERN -- [category name]
**Discovery**: Skipped. This is a well-understood pattern with established implementation approaches.

Quality Checklist

• [ ] Smart filter correctly classified the objective (common vs. novel)
• [ ] If NOVEL: lean canvas is complete (all 9 boxes filled with specifics)
• [ ] Competitive scan has 3-5 real alternatives (not generic or fabricated)
• [ ] Riskiest assumption is specific and testable (not vague)
• [ ] Problem validation questions are answered with evidence (not assumptions)
• [ ] Go/No-Go recommendation is clear with rationale
• [ ] If COMMON: skip is justified with pattern category
• [ ] Output format matches the template (appended to PRD, not separate artifact)