Discovery

Progressive Discovery

Related rules:

• docs/specs/question-principles.md
• docs/specs/research.md
• docs/specs/c-suite-analysis.md

Transforms a project idea into an actionable master plan through a structured 7-phase workflow (Phase 0-6).

Input

• Project directory (current working directory)

Output

• 30+ research files + master-plan.md under the docs/00-discovery/ directory
• All discovery documents are produced in the user's conversation language

Pre-output checklist (required before generating the master plan)

Verify every item before generating the master plan. If any item is incomplete, go back and complete it.

• Confirm output files have been created for every completed Phase
• Confirm Phase 2 research covers every selected category at the required depth
• Confirm the consensus score from the Phase 3 C-Suite analysis has been calculated
• Confirm the Phase 4 YAGNI classification covers every feature candidate
• Confirm the report language matches the user's conversation language

Schema compliance check (required before persisting to .ww-w-ai/)

Verify the JSON output before writing to .ww-w-ai/standards/discovery/:

• Confirm all "required" fields in schema.json are present and non-empty
• Confirm the phases[] array contains entries for every executed Phase
• Confirm summary.phases_completed matches the actual number of completed Phases

Output persistence

After Phase 6 completes, persist execution metadata to .ww-w-ai/standards/discovery/:

1. Create the .ww-w-ai/standards/discovery/ directory if it does not exist
2. Write latest.json -- structured metadata following templates/schema.json
3. Write latest.md -- execution summary following templates/report.template.md
4. Archive to history/ -- copy latest.json to .ww-w-ai/standards/discovery/history/{timestamp}.json

latest.md is produced in the user's conversation language. JSON field names remain in English regardless of language. The JSON output captures execution metadata (Phases completed, number of searches, C-Suite consensus, etc.). The full discovery output is maintained under docs/00-discovery/. Only the metadata is stored under .ww-w-ai/.

Workflow overview

flowchart LR
    P0["Phase 0<br/>Context scan"] --> P1["Phase 1<br/>Idea parsing"]
    P1 --> GATE{"User confirmation<br/>Idea finalized"}
    GATE --> P2["Phase 2<br/>Research<br/>(auto 3 depths)"]
    P2 --> P3["Phase 3<br/>C-Suite<br/>(parallel)"]
    P3 --> P4["Phase 4<br/>YAGNI filter"]
    P4 --> P5["Phase 5<br/>Scope breakdown"]
    P5 --> P6["Phase 6<br/>Master plan"]

Key point: Once the idea is finalized in Phase 1, Phases 2-6 proceed automatically without user confirmation.

Phase 0: Context scan

Assess the current project state.

1. Scan the current directory structure (Glob)
2. Check existing documentation (CLAUDE.md, README.md, docs/)
3. Identify the tech stack (package.json, pubspec.yaml, Cargo.toml, etc.)
4. Check existing PDCA history

Output: docs/00-discovery/research/context.md -- current-state summary

Phase 1: Idea parsing + execution mode selection

Structure the user's idea and determine the execution mode.

1. Ask the user to describe the idea (AskUserQuestion)
2. Extract the core elements:
   • Problem: what problem does it solve?
   • Target user: who is it for?
   • Value proposition: how does it differ from existing alternatives?
   • Scope: what is the initial scope?
3. Present a structured form and obtain user confirmation
4. Execution mode selection (AskUserQuestion):

Choose how to execute Phases 2-6:
1. Automatic -- non-stop automatic progression through to the master plan (recommended)
2. Manual -- proceed after per-category auto/manual selection

Manual mode -- per-category execution selection

When Manual mode is selected, decide the execution method for every category at once before Phase 2 begins (AskUserQuestion, multiSelect):

Select categories to run automatically (the rest will be manual):
[v] 1. User/problem validation
[v] 2. Market size and trends
[v] 3. Competitor/alternative analysis
[ ] 4. Solution/technical approach    <- manual (confirm before proceeding)
[ ] 5. Tech stack/infrastructure      <- manual
[v] 6. Content/data strategy
[v] 7. Business model
[v] 8. Legal/regulatory environment

• Checked categories: auto-progress through Depth 3, record results only
• Unchecked categories: present per-depth results, obtain user confirmation, allow course correction

Output: docs/00-discovery/01-idea.md -- idea structuring document + execution mode

Phase 2: Progressive research (automatic progression)

Perform deep searches up to Depth 3 automatically per category. All 8 categories complete without user confirmation.

Automatic depth progression: categories progress depth 1 -> 2 -> 3 automatically (details: see ../../docs/specs/research.md)

8 categories (in order, automatic):

1. User/problem validation
2. Market size and trends
3. Competitor/alternative analysis
4. Solution/technical approach
5. Tech stack/infrastructure
6. Content/data strategy
7. Business model
8. Legal/regulatory environment

Per category:

• Depth 1: 3 broad searches -> whole picture
• Depth 2: 3 deep searches on key points -> dig into core findings
• Depth 3: 3 verification searches -> cross-validation + gap filling
• Early termination possible (once sufficient information is secured)

Cross-category parallelism: independent categories are executed in parallel via the Agent tool. Issue multiple Agent calls simultaneously in one turn to speed up processing.

• Group A (parallel): 1. User, 2. Market, 3. Competition
• Group B (parallel, after A): 4. Solution, 5. Technology, 6. Content
• Group C (parallel, after B): 7. Business model, 8. Legal/regulation

Within each group, categories run concurrently as separate Agent calls:

# Group A execution example (3 Agents invoked concurrently in one turn)
Agent 1: Category 1 User/problem validation depth 1->2->3
Agent 2: Category 2 Market size and trends depth 1->2->3
Agent 3: Category 3 Competitor/alternative analysis depth 1->2->3

Output: docs/00-discovery/research/{NN}-{category}-depth{N}.md (category x depth)

Phase 3: C-Suite validation

Analyze in parallel from 10 executive perspectives.

CEO, CFO, CTO, CMO, COO, CRO, CPO, CLO, CHRO, CSO (details: see c-suite-analysis.md)

• Parallel analysis via the Agent tool. Invoke 5 Agents concurrently in one turn, analyzing the 10 perspectives in pairs:

  Agent 1: CEO + CSO (Strategy group)
  Agent 2: CFO + COO (Operations/Finance group)
  Agent 3: CTO + CPO (Product/Technology group)
  Agent 4: CMO + CHRO (Market/Talent group)
  Agent 5: CRO + CLO (Risk/Legal group)
  

• Conflicts between perspectives are recorded explicitly + a user decision is requested

Output: docs/00-discovery/03-csuite-analysis.md (consolidated), docs/00-discovery/research/csuite-raw-*.md (individual raw)

Phase 4: Solution and YAGNI

Remove over-engineering.

1. Extract a feature candidate list from the Phase 2-3 results
2. Apply the YAGNI test to each feature:
   • "Is it needed right now?"
   • "Is the MVP impossible without it?"
   • "Does adding it later cost roughly the same?"
3. Classify as Must-have / Should-have / Could-have / Won't-have (MoSCoW)

Output: docs/00-discovery/04-solution-yagni.md

Phase 5: Sub-plan map (full project scope)

Define every domain that composes the project and each domain's scope.

Include for each domain:

• Domain name
• Item list (concrete features/tasks)
• Priority (MVP / v1.0 / v2.0)
• Dependencies (which domain comes first?)

Domains differ per project. Derive them from the Phase 1-4 results of the project at hand.

Detailed specs are not produced here. The sub-plan for each domain is authored separately in the PDCA Plan (docs/01-plan/features/*.plan.md).

Output: docs/00-discovery/05-sub-plan-map.md

Phase 6: Master plan generation

Generate 00-master-plan.md + detailed chapters.

00-master-plan.md required content:

• Summary (problem/target/value/Go-NoGo)
• Roadmap (v1.0): Alpha(0.1) -> Beta -> MVP -> Release(1.0)
• Post v1.0: research-grounded expansion directions (user decides)
• Core summary + links for chapters 01-05
• Change log
• Assumptions register

Detailed chapters: 01-idea, 02-research, 03-csuite, 04-yagni, 05-sub-plan-map

The master plan is a decision-support document. What to do next is decided by the reader.

Output: docs/00-discovery/00-master-plan.md + docs/00-discovery/01~05-*.md + docs/00-discovery/research/

Core rules

HARD-GATE

• Never write code before Phase 6 is complete
• Even if the user requests code, refuse until Discovery is complete
• When refusing, inform the user of the current Phase progress and remaining steps

Execution-mode behavior (Phase 2)

Automatic mode -- fully non-stop:

[Categories 1-8, all depths 1->2->3 automatically]
Independent categories run in parallel via Agent (multiple Agents invoked concurrently in one turn)

Manual mode -- per-category mix:

[Category 1: auto] depth 1->2->3 auto -> record result
[Category 2: auto] depth 1->2->3 auto -> record result
[Category 3: auto] depth 1->2->3 auto -> record result
[Category 4: manual] depth 1 -> present -> confirm -> depth 2 -> present -> confirm -> depth 3
[Category 5: manual] depth 1 -> present -> confirm -> depth 2 -> ...
[Categories 6-8: auto] ...

• Auto categories can run in parallel via Agent
• "Skip" is allowed in manual categories; skips are recorded in the master plan
• Both auto and manual progress through all 3 depths (manual requires per-depth confirmation)

Output directory

docs/00-discovery/
├── 00-master-plan.md                   <- consolidated summary + roadmap + 01-05 links
├── 01-idea.md                          <- idea structuring
├── 02-research.md                      <- 8-category insight consolidation
├── 03-csuite-analysis.md               <- 10-perspective consolidation
├── 04-solution-yagni.md                <- YAGNI filtering
├── 05-sub-plan-map.md                  <- full project scope (sub-plan map)
└── research/                           <- evidence. Never delete.
    ├── context.md                      <- Phase 0 context scan
    ├── 01-user-problem-depth1~3.md     <- per category x per depth
    ├── ... (up to 24 files)
    ├── csuite-raw-*.md                 <- C-Suite individual raw (10)
    ├── search-log.md
    └── brainstorm-notes.md

Related rules

• docs/specs/question-principles.md -- 6 principles for question generation
• docs/specs/research.md -- deep search methodology (source quality tiers, cross-validation, search protocol)
• docs/specs/c-suite-analysis.md -- 10-perspective analysis framework

Template reference

• templates/document-guide.md -- master plan document structure

Spec references

For detailed verification criteria, evidence tables, and examples:

• Related rule specs: ../../docs/specs/c-suite-analysis.md, ../../docs/specs/question-principles.md, ../../docs/specs/research.md
• Evidence index: ../../docs/evidence/evidence-registry.md

Permission rationale

• Write: restricted to .ww-w-ai/ output persistence. No modification of project source.
• Bash: restricted to read-only git/system queries. No file modification.