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Phase 1: Product Exploration

Agent: Saga the Analyst
Output: A-Product-Brief/ (or your configured prefix)

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.

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)
Strategic Context - Business goal, target group, and driving forces as a benchmark

Strategic Context (Step 4):

After capturing your vision and positioning, you'll establish a strategic context — identifying your primary business goal, target group, and their driving forces. This serves as a benchmark for all subsequent discovery work. If anything contradicts these during discovery, either the strategic context needs refinement or the finding doesn't serve your strategy.

Workflow Structure

Phase 1 follows a linear path through four document modules, with an optional simplified mode:

flowchart TD
    START(["Phase 1: Product Exploration"]) --> MODE{Brief level?}

    MODE -->|Simplified| SIMPLE["Simplified Brief\nSingle-step quick capture"]
    MODE -->|Complete| VISION["Vision & Positioning\nSteps 01-03"]

    SIMPLE --> DONE([Phase complete])

    VISION --> CONTEXT["Strategic Context\nBusiness goal, target group,\ndriving forces\nStep 04"]
    CONTEXT --> BRIEF["Product Brief\nBusiness model, users,\nsuccess criteria, constraints\nSteps 05-12"]
    BRIEF --> CONTENT["Content & Language\nPersonality, tone, SEO,\ncontent structure\nSteps 13-18"]
    CONTENT --> VISUAL["Visual Direction\nInspiration, brand, style,\nlayout, imagery\nSteps 19-26"]
    VISUAL --> PLATFORM["Platform Requirements\nTech stack, integrations,\ncontact strategy, multilingual\nSteps 27-32"]
    PLATFORM --> SUMMARY["Summary & Activation\nAnalyze, summarize,\nupdate design log\nSteps 33-36"]
    SUMMARY --> PHASE2(["→ Phase 2: Trigger Mapping"])

    START -.->|"validate / -v"| VALIDATE["Validation Mode\nBrief completeness\n→ SEO → Content → Visual → Platform"]
    VALIDATE -.-> REPORT["Validation Report"]

Four document modules — each produces its own output file:

Product Brief — vision, business model, users, success criteria
Content & Language — personality, tone, SEO keywords, structure
Visual Direction — brand, style references, layout, imagery
Platform Requirements — tech stack, integrations, multilingual

Strategic Context (step 04) establishes the primary business goal, target group, and driving forces early — serving as a benchmark for all remaining discovery.

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

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

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.

What Comes Next

Your Product Brief enables:

Phase 2: Trigger Mapping - Deeper into user psychology with your strategic context
Phase 3: UX Scenarios - User journeys grounded in your vision
Phase 4: UX Design - Design work grounded in strategic purpose

The brief becomes the reference point everyone shares.

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

Example Output

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

Method Guides:

Phase 2: Trigger Mapping Guide - Deep user psychology (next phase)
Phase 3: UX Scenarios Guide - User journeys from Trigger Map

Strategic Models:

Customer Awareness Cycle - Understanding user awareness stages
Golden Circle - WHY, HOW, WHAT framework (useful for vision)

Workflows:

Product Brief Workflow: workflows/1-project-brief/project-brief/complete/workflow.md
Pitch & Signoff Workflow: workflows/1-project-brief/alignment-signoff/workflow.md

Phase 1 of the Whiteport Design Studio method

6.8 KiB Raw Blame History