# Step 8.2: Gather Context

## Your Task

Understand the existing product context before making changes.

---

## Before You Start

**Ensure you have:**

- ✅ Completed step 8.1 (opportunity identified)
- ✅ Limited brief or improvement file created
- ✅ Clear understanding of the problem

---

## Context A: Existing Product Entry Point

### Gather Existing Materials

**You're joining an existing product. Collect everything:**

### 1. Business Context

**Upload to:** `A-Project-Brief/existing-context/business/`

- Business goals document
- Company strategy
- Product roadmap
- Competitive analysis
- Market research

**Review and understand:**

- Why does this product exist?
- What's the business model?
- Who are the competitors?
- What's the market position?

---

### 2. User Context

**Upload to:** `A-Project-Brief/existing-context/users/`

- User personas
- User research reports
- User interviews
- Analytics reports
- User feedback summaries

**Review and understand:**

- Who are the users?
- What are their needs?
- What are their pain points?
- What do they love?
- What do they complain about?

---

### 3. Product Context

**Upload to:** `A-Project-Brief/existing-context/product/`

- Product specifications
- Feature documentation
- Design system (if exists)
- Technical architecture
- API documentation

**Review and understand:**

- What features exist?
- How does it work?
- What's the tech stack?
- What are the constraints?

---

### 4. Use the Product

**Critical: Experience it yourself!**

1. **Download/access the product**
   - Create an account
   - Go through onboarding
   - Use all major features

2. **Document your experience**

   ```markdown
   # First Impressions: [Product Name]

   **Date:** 2024-12-09
   **Context:** First-time user, no prior knowledge

   ## Onboarding

   - Step 1: [What happened? How did it feel?]
   - Step 2: [What happened? How did it feel?]
   - Confusion points: [Where was I confused?]
   - Delights: [What felt great?]

   ## Core Features

   - Feature X: [Experience]
   - Feature Y: [Experience]

   ## Overall Impression

   [What's your gut feeling about this product?]
   ```

3. **Identify friction points**
   - Where did you get stuck?
   - What was confusing?
   - What felt broken?
   - What exceeded expectations?

---

### 5. Create Focused Trigger Map

**Based on your strategic challenge, create a focused trigger map:**

**File:** `B-Trigger-Map/focused-trigger-map.md`

```markdown
# Focused Trigger Map: [Challenge Name]

**Context:** Existing product improvement
**Focus:** [Specific feature/flow you're improving]

---

## Trigger Moment

**When does this happen?**

Example:
"User completes signup and reaches dashboard for first time"

---

## Current Experience

**What happens now?**

Example:
"1. Welcome screen (confusing value prop) 2. Family setup (unclear what 'family' means) 3. Dog addition (forced, feels like homework) 4. 60% drop off before reaching dashboard"

---

## Desired Outcome

**What should happen?**

Example:
"User understands value, completes setup smoothly,
reaches dashboard feeling confident and excited"

---

## Barriers

**What's preventing the desired outcome?**

Example:
"- Unclear value proposition

- 'Family' concept is confusing (cultural context)
- Forced dog addition feels like work
- No sense of progress or achievement
- No celebration of completion"

---

## Solution Focus

**What will we change to remove barriers?**

Example:
"- Clarify value prop on welcome screen

- Simplify family concept explanation
- Make dog addition optional
- Add progress indicators
- Add celebration on completion"
```

---

## Context B: Continuous Improvement

### You Already Know the Product

**You designed it! But gather fresh data:**

### 1. Analytics Deep Dive

**Focus on the specific feature/flow you're improving:**

```markdown
# Analytics: Feature X Improvement

**Date Range:** Last 30 days
**Focus:** Feature X engagement

## Usage Metrics

- Users who saw Feature X: 1,200
- Users who used Feature X: 180 (15%)
- Users who completed action: 90 (7.5%)
- Drop-off point: Step 2 (40% drop off)

## User Segments

- New users: 10% usage
- Returning users: 20% usage
- Power users: 60% usage

## Insight

New and returning users struggle with Feature X.
Power users understand it. Suggests onboarding gap.
```

---

### 2. User Feedback Analysis

**Categorize feedback about this specific feature:**

```markdown
# User Feedback: Feature X

**Date Range:** Last 30 days
**Total Mentions:** 24

## Themes

### Confusion (12 mentions)

- "I don't understand how to use Feature X"
- "Feature X seems broken"
- "What is Feature X for?"

### Requests (8 mentions)

- "Can Feature X do Y?"
- "Wish Feature X had Z"

### Praise (4 mentions)

- "Once I figured it out, Feature X is great!"
- "Feature X saves me time"

## Insight

Users who figure out Feature X love it.
But most users never figure it out.
Onboarding is the problem.
```

---

### 3. Review Original Design Intent

**Why did you design it this way?**

```markdown
# Original Design Intent: Feature X

**When Designed:** 2024-10-15
**Original Goal:** [What were you trying to achieve?]
**Design Decisions:** [What choices did you make?]
**Assumptions:** [What did you assume about users?]

## What We Learned

- Assumption: Users would understand Feature X intuitively
- Reality: Users need explicit guidance
- Lesson: Add onboarding for complex features
```

---

### 4. Competitive Analysis

**How do competitors handle this?**

```markdown
# Competitive Analysis: Feature X

## Competitor A

- Approach: [How do they do it?]
- Onboarding: [Do they have guidance?]
- Pros: [What works well?]
- Cons: [What doesn't work?]

## Competitor B

- Approach: [How do they do it?]
- Onboarding: [Do they have guidance?]
- Pros: [What works well?]
- Cons: [What doesn't work?]

## Insights

[What can we learn from competitors?]
```

---

## Synthesis

**Combine all context into actionable insights:**

```markdown
# Context Synthesis: [Improvement Name]

## What We Know

1. [Key insight from analytics]
2. [Key insight from user feedback]
3. [Key insight from competitive analysis]
4. [Key insight from original design]

## Root Cause

[Why is this problem happening?]

## Hypothesis

[What do we believe will solve it?]

## Validation Plan

[How will we know if we're right?]
```

---

## Next Step

After gathering context:

```
[C] Continue to step-8.3-design-update.md
```

---

## Success Metrics

✅ All existing materials gathered
✅ Product experienced firsthand
✅ Focused trigger map created (if new entry)
✅ Analytics analyzed (if continuous improvement)
✅ User feedback categorized
✅ Root cause identified
✅ Hypothesis formed

---

## Failure Modes

❌ Not using the product yourself
❌ Relying only on documentation
❌ Ignoring user feedback
❌ Not identifying root cause
❌ Jumping to solutions too quickly

---

**Remember:** Understanding context deeply leads to better solutions!
