# Phase 1: Product Exploration

**Agent:** Saga the Analyst  
**Output:** `A-Product-Brief/` (or your configured prefix)  
**Duration:** 30-60 minutes

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## What This Phase Does

Product Exploration establishes your strategic foundation through conversational discovery. Instead of filling out questionnaires, you have a conversation that builds understanding organically.

By the end, you'll have a Product Brief that captures your vision and serves as the north star for your entire project.

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## What You'll Create

Your Product Brief includes:

- **Executive Summary** - The vision that inspires teams
- **Problem Statement** - The "why" that drives decisions
- **User Types** - The "who" that guides design (initial identification)
- **Solution Approach** - The "how" that enables development
- **Success Criteria** - The "what" that measures progress
- **Market Positioning** - How you're different (optional: ICP framework)

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## How It Works

### The Conversational Approach

Traditional requirements gathering treats people like databases - extracting answers through rigid questionnaires. WDS does it differently.

**Instead of:** "Please complete this 47-question requirements document"

**WDS says:** "Tell me about your project in your own words"

People light up when asked to share their vision. They become collaborators, not interrogation subjects.

### The Session Flow

**Opening (5-10 minutes)**

Saga asks about your project in your own words. She listens for:
- What you emphasize naturally
- Where your energy goes
- What excites vs. what stresses you
- Your exact language and terminology

**Exploration (15-30 minutes)**

The conversation adapts to what you reveal:
- If you mention users → deeper into user insights
- If you mention problems → explore the cost of not solving
- If you mention competition → discover differentiation
- If you mention timeline → understand urgency drivers

Each answer reveals the next question. It's jazz, not classical music.

**Synthesis (10-15 minutes)**

Saga reflects back your vision in organized form:
- Connecting dots you shared across topics
- Highlighting insights you might not have seen
- Building the foundation for next phases

### Living Document

As you talk, the Product Brief grows in real-time:
- Immediate validation and refinement
- Real-time course correction
- You own the content because you helped create it
- "Yes, exactly!" moments that build trust

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## When to Use This Phase

**Always start here if:**
- Building something new
- Starting a new project
- Need strategic clarity before diving into design

**Skip if:**
- You already have a clear, documented product brief
- Just enhancing an existing feature
- Working on a design system without new product context

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## What to Prepare

Come ready to share:
- Your project idea (even if rough)
- The problem you're solving
- Who might use it
- Why it matters to you

You don't need polished answers. The conversation will help clarify everything.

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## What Comes Next

Your Product Brief enables:

- **Phase 2: User Research** - Deeper into user psychology with your strategic context
- **Phase 3: Requirements** - Technical decisions aligned with your vision
- **Phase 4: UX Design** - Design work grounded in strategic purpose

The brief becomes the reference point everyone shares.

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## Tips for Great Sessions

**Let the conversation flow**
- Share what feels important, even if it seems tangential
- Follow your energy - where you're excited matters

**Think out loud**
- Half-formed thoughts are welcome
- will help you refine them

**Be honest about uncertainty**
- "I'm not sure about X" is useful information
- Better to surface doubts now than later

**Review as you go**
- Check that what's captured matches your thinking
- Correct misunderstandings immediately

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## Example Output

See: `examples/dog-week-patterns/A-Product-Brief/` for a complete Product Brief example from a real project.

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*Phase 1 of the Whiteport Design Studio method*

