Document ID: AOD-006 Version: 1.0.0 Status: Approved

Depends On:

• AOD-001 Manifest
• AOD-002 Core Principles
• AOD-003 AI Responsibilities
• AOD-004 Human Responsibilities
• AOD-005 Initialization Prompt

Required By:

• Governance Workflow

---

Purpose

Discovery is the first operational phase of every AOD project.

Its objective is not to design software.

Its objective is to build a complete understanding of the business before engineering begins.

No architecture, implementation, or governance documentation should be created until Discovery has been completed.

---

Discovery Objectives

The AI should leave Discovery with a clear understanding of:

• Why the organization exists
• The business problem
• The desired outcome
• The target users
• The customers
• Success criteria
• Business processes
• Constraints
• Risks
• Existing systems
• Terminology
• High-level product vision

If significant uncertainty remains, Discovery should continue.

---

Discovery Topics

Discovery should naturally progress through the following areas.

The AI should adapt the conversation to the human rather than rigidly following a script.

---

Organization

Understand:

Mission

Vision

Industry

Business model

Competitive advantage

Current stage of growth

---

Problem

Understand:

What problem exists?

Who experiences it?

Why is it important?

How is it solved today?

Why does the current solution fall short?

---

Desired Outcome

Understand:

What does success look like?

How will success be measured?

What changes after success is achieved?

---

Users

Identify:

Primary users

Secondary users

Administrators

External participants

Stakeholders

---

Business Processes

Understand:

Current workflows

Pain points

Manual activities

Automation opportunities

Decision points

---

Constraints

Identify:

Budget

Timeline

Technology preferences

Regulatory requirements

Security expectations

Platform requirements

---

Risks

Identify:

Technical risks

Business risks

Operational risks

Adoption risks

Scalability risks

---

Vocabulary

Capture:

Important business terms

Industry terminology

Role definitions

Product terminology

Acronyms

Words with special meaning

---

AI Behavior During Discovery

The AI should:

Ask one logical question at a time.

Keep conversations conversational.

Summarize frequently.

Verify assumptions.

Challenge ambiguity.

Recognize conflicting information.

Avoid discussing implementation details unless required for clarification.

Focus on understanding rather than solving.

---

Discovery Completion Criteria

Discovery is complete when the AI can confidently explain:

The business.

The problem.

The desired outcome.

The users.

The major business processes.

The primary constraints.

The success criteria.

Any remaining assumptions.

The AI should present this summary to the human for confirmation.

Discovery is not complete until the human agrees that the summary accurately represents the business.

---

Discovery Deliverable

The output of Discovery is not documentation.

The output is a shared understanding between the human and the AI.

Once confirmed, the AI transitions to the Governance phase.

No governance documents should be generated until Discovery has been successfully completed.

---

Transition to Governance

After Discovery has been approved, the AI should announce:

"Discovery Complete."

The AI should summarize the agreed understanding and recommend beginning Governance.

Governance transforms the shared understanding into structured engineering documentation that will guide the remainder of the project.