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¶ Search Area Definition
¶ What it is
During the kick-off workshop, we defined the general goals and objectives of the project and the problem statement we wanted to tackle. To get to a level of clarity where the team can start to work, we need to refine this further. The search area should be clearly defined, and we need to understand the level of detail/depth we need to cover through this discovery project.
¶ Why it is useful
Defining the Search Area properly helps you to scope and plan your discovery research and how much time and resources should be spent on which activities. It also provides a guideline on what to look for during the research.
¶ When to use it
The search area for the research work should be defined as soon as we start the discovery research project and right after the kick-off workshop. At that point, we have enough information to dive one level deeper and draw a frame around what we are looking at.
¶ How is it done
1. During the kick-off workshop, you have already discussed your goals for this project and the expected outcomes. From there, a list of search areas can be identified.
- For example, our research aims to identify the right USP for our product. In that case, the search area could be customers (perceptions on products, customer needs, and what value resonates with them), competitors (competitors’ value propositions and claims), etc.
2. Please discuss this with the team and review it with stakeholders to align expectations.
3. Capture the final result in the template and document it in your data room.
¶ Do's & Don't
Do's
- Define the detailed layers of your research area. For example, customers and competitors are high-level topics; you can pick one aspect and deep dive. For example, the search area is the customer journey, and all touchpoints and pain points will be evaluated.
Don't
- Don’t be limited to this frame of defined search areas; you might discover new insights during the research that could change/add new topics to the research.
¶ Tools needed
- Text Editing Software (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc.)