Scope discovery research

Skill alexe-ev/product-plugins/product-discovery/skills/scope-discovery-research

Define the scope, goals, and methods for a product discovery research initiative. Use this skill before running any discovery research to ensure the team is investigating the right questions with the right methods.From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add alexe-ev/product-plugins --skill scope-discovery-research

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SKILL.md

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Scope Discovery Research

Purpose

Help teams define a focused, time-boxed discovery research scope — including the right questions, methods, participants, and expected outputs — before committing to research execution.

Skill type

Conceptual skill

Use this skill when

A team is about to start discovery research without a clear scope
Multiple research questions are competing and need to be prioritized
A research proposal needs to be reviewed or approved
A new product area requires an initial exploration plan

Do not use this skill when

Research is already underway and the goal is synthesis (use synthesize-qualitative-research)
The question is specific to usability (use plan-ux-research)

Required inputs

Product area or problem space being explored
Business or product decisions the research should inform

Optional inputs

Existing assumptions or hypotheses
Available time and resources
Prior research on the same topic
Team constraints

Upstream context

Works best when:

A product problem or opportunity area is identified
Strategic context exists (what are we trying to decide?)

If upstream context is missing

Produce a set of framing questions to establish research scope before scoping the research itself.

Downstream handoff

Output can feed:

run-user-interviews (scoped research → interview plan)
plan-ux-research (scope informs UX research design)
synthesize-qualitative-research (scope defines what to synthesize)

Instructions

Define the research goal: what decisions will this research enable?
Identify the key questions the research must answer (limit to 3–5).
Identify what is already known vs. what is genuinely unknown.
Select appropriate methods for each question (interviews, diary studies, observations, etc.).
Define participant criteria and volume needed.
Define timeline, output format, and how findings will be used.
Identify risks: what if we don't find what we need?

Output

Provide:

Research goal and decisions it will inform
Key research questions (prioritized)
Known vs. unknown assumptions
Methods per question with rationale
Participant criteria and volume
Timeline and output format
Risk and contingency plan

Risks / caveats

Research without a clear goal produces interesting but un-actionable findings
Scope creep in research is common — limit to 3–5 key questions per initiative
Methods must match questions — not all questions require interviews

What ships with it: 3 files

6.8 KB alongside SKILL.md