Policy : Discovery Before Delivery

Commitment to Understanding Before Building
We believe that meaningful products emerge when teams take the time to truly understand customer problems and business needs before moving into solution mode. Discovery is not a step to rush through but a discipline that ensures our investments deliver genuine value. By prioritising discovery, we reduce waste, improve confidence, and build products that resonate with customers and drive measurable outcomes.

What This Means
Discovery is a first-class product practice. We expect teams to dedicate time and focus to learning before building, embedding research, experimentation, and validation into their approach.

Our commitment to discovery is built on:

• Customer-Centred Research – Engaging directly with users to uncover pain points, needs, and motivations.
• Problem Validation – Testing assumptions to confirm we are solving the right problems before moving to solutions.
• Experimentation & Prototyping – Using lightweight tests, prototypes, and MVPs to generate fast feedback.
• Evidence-Based Prioritisation – Making product decisions grounded in data and insight, not opinion or assumption.
• Continuous Discovery – Treating discovery as ongoing, not a one-off phase, and embedding it into team rhythms.

Why This Matters
Skipping or under-investing in discovery risks building the wrong solutions, wasting time and resources, and damaging customer trust. By putting discovery before delivery, we ensure that product decisions are purposeful, targeted, and impactful. Discovery helps us reduce risk, avoid costly rework, and maximise the value of every iteration.

Our Expectation
All product teams must embrace discovery as a non-negotiable discipline. Teams are expected to validate assumptions, involve customers in shaping solutions, and base decisions on evidence rather than intuition.

To support this policy, shared frameworks, practices, and tools will be provided, ensuring teams have guidance while retaining flexibility to adapt. By embedding discovery before delivery, we unlock Better Value Sooner Safer Happier, ensuring that what we build truly matters and delivers lasting impact.

This policy establishes a strong discovery-first culture while allowing teams to adapt practices to their unique context.