# Discovery Question Bank (back-pocket reference)

Do not read these as a list to the client. Pull the one that fits the thread. Each is a door, not a form field. Pair every factual question with a story prompt ("tell me about a time...").

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## Movement 1 - Warm-up and the real why

- Why are we doing this now? What changed?
- If this project is a complete success a year from now, what is different?
- What happens if you do nothing - if the current site/product stays exactly as it is?
- Who inside your organization most wants this, and who is skeptical? Why?
- What has been tried before that did not work, and why do you think it failed?
- What is the one outcome that, if we miss it, makes this a failure regardless of how it looks?

## Movement 2 - The brand's soul

Heart and big why:
- Why does this company exist beyond making money?
- Tell me the founding story - the moment it started.
- What do you believe that your competitors do not?
- What do you stand against? What makes you angry about your industry?

Personality, archetype, voice:
- If your brand were a person, who are they? How do they dress, talk, spend a Saturday?
- Which of the 12 archetypes fits, and why: Outlaw, Creator, Magician, Hero, Lover, Jester, Everyman, Caregiver, Ruler, Innocent, Sage, Explorer? (Pick a primary and a secondary.)
- If your brand walked into a room, what would people feel?
- What would your brand never say? Never do? Never wear?
- Read me three sentences in your brand's voice. Now read me the same idea in a voice that is wrong for you.
- Whose brand voice do you envy, and what about it?

Reputation and reality:
- What do customers say about you when you are not in the room?
- What is the gap between how you see yourselves and how the market sees you?

## Movement 3 - The product's essence

- Describe the product in one sentence to a smart twelve-year-old.
- What is the single most important thing it does? If it only did that, would it still sell?
- What does it replace? What did people use before it?
- Who is the business case for - who pays, and what has to be true for them to keep paying?
- What are the hard constraints: budget, timeline, tech stack, legal, brand rules, things that cannot change?
- What does "done well" look like in measurable terms?
- What is the one feature people think they want that is actually a distraction?

## Movement 4 - The users and their jobs (JTBD)

For each distinct persona, build a card. Context first, then the job.

Who (context, not just demographics):
- Walk me through a day in this person's life around the moment they need you.
- What is their situation, pressure, and constraint when they show up?
- What do they already know, and what scares or confuses them?

Why they hire it (the JTBD job statement):
- Complete: "When I ___ (situation), I want to ___ (motivation), so I can ___ (expected outcome)."
- Functional job: what task are they getting done?
- Emotional job: how do they want to feel (or stop feeling)?
- Social job: how do they want to be seen by others?

What they fire (the alternative):
- What are they using today instead? A competitor, a spreadsheet, a person, doing nothing?
- Why does that alternative fall short - what is the last straw that makes them switch?

The trigger:
- What event sends them looking for a solution in the first place?
- What do they type into search, or say to a friend, at that moment?

## Movement 5 - The competition and the whitespace

- Name three competitors. For each: what do they do well, and where do they fail the user?
- Whose site do you admire (in or out of your industry) and exactly what about it?
- Who do you refuse to look like, and why?
- Where does everyone in your category look and sound the same? (That sameness is the opening.)
- What is the one true sentence about you that no competitor can honestly say?

## Movement 6 - The site as a habit (Hooked loop worksheet)

Design the loop, not the pages.

- **Trigger.** External: where does the user come from (search, referral, email, ad)? Internal: what emotion or itch does the product attach to so they come back on their own (boredom, anxiety, FOMO, pride, curiosity)?
- **Action.** What is the simplest single behavior that delivers value? Apply Fogg B = MAP: is there enough Motivation, is the Ability (effort) low enough, is the Prompt clear and present? Reduce effort before adding motivation.
- **Variable reward.** Which type, and how is it varied (not identical every time)?
  - Tribe (social: validation, belonging, recognition).
  - Hunt (resources/information: a feed, a search, a deal, a result).
  - Self (mastery, completion, progress, control).
- **Investment.** What does the user put in that (a) makes the next visit better for them and (b) loads the next trigger? Data, content, reputation, followers, configuration, skill. Investment is the difference between a visit and a relationship.
- Ethics check (Hooked manipulation matrix): does this loop improve the user's life and would the maker use it themselves? Build for the Facilitator quadrant, not the Dealer.

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## Discovery Brief template (the synthesized output)

```
# Discovery Brief - <Client / Product>

## Brand soul
- Essence (one line):
- The big why:
- Core values (3-5):
- Archetype (primary + secondary):
- Voice (3 do's):
- Never says / never does:

## Product essence
- What it is (one sentence):
- The one core job:
- Business case (who pays, why they keep paying):
- Hard constraints:
- "Done well" metric:

## Personas + JTBD
For each persona:
- Name + context:
- Job statement ("When I ___, I want to ___, so I can ___"):
- Functional / Emotional / Social job:
- Fires (current alternative + last straw):
- Trigger:

## Positioning
- The whitespace / sea of sameness to break:
- The one sentence only we can say:

## Habit loop (Hooked)
- Trigger (external + internal):
- Action (simplest valuable behavior; B=MAP notes):
- Variable reward (tribe / hunt / self + how varied):
- Investment (what loads the next trigger):
- Ethics: Facilitator? (improves user life + maker would use it)

## Design implications
- Structure / IA:
- Tone + visual direction:
- THE single most important user action:

## Open questions + assumptions (flag every guess)
-
```

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## Investigator follow-up moves (use mid-conversation)

- "Say more about that." (silence is a tool; let them fill it)
- "You mentioned X twice - why does X matter so much?"
- "What would have to be true for that to work?"
- "Tell me about the last customer who got it exactly right."
- "If you could only keep one sentence on the homepage, which?"
- Bonus closer for every movement: "What have I not asked that I should have?"