Discovery Interview
Conduct deep stakeholder interviews to transform vague ideas into detailed project specs
What You Can Do
You can conduct structured discovery interviews that go beyond surface-level answers to uncover what stakeholders actually need. Claude asks probing questions across relevant categories, detects knowledge gaps, educates when needed, and synthesizes findings into comprehensive project specifications. This works for technical projects, non-technical initiatives, and cross-functional scenarios.
Features
Starts with broad orientation, then dives deep into category-by-category requirements gathering
Identifies when stakeholders are uncertain and offers research or education to inform better decisions
Uncovers hidden assumptions and tradeoffs that could impact project success
Automatically tailors questions based on whether you're building APIs, web apps, mobile apps, CLI tools, scripts, or libraries
Produces detailed, actionable specs once complete understanding is achieved
Works seamlessly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders without requiring domain expertise
Maintains context throughout the interview to build a coherent specification
Example Output
Example 1: Web App Discovery
User: "I want a scheduling app for my team."
Claude identifies gaps and asks: "When you say 'scheduling,' are you replacing calendar invites, managing shared resources, or something else? Who decides the schedule—is it automated, manager-approved, or self-service?"
After 3 interview phases, produces:
## Project Spec: Team Scheduling Platform
- End users: Team leads + individual contributors
- Core feature: Visual calendar with conflict detection
- Permission model: Managers can override, employees see own + team
- Integration: Syncs with Google/Outlook calendars
Example 2: Internal Tool Discovery
User: "We need to automate our expense reporting."
Claude digs into: "Currently, how long does reporting take? What causes delays? Are there compliance rules we need to enforce?"
Produces spec covering data validation rules, approval workflows, and audit trail requirements that stakeholders hadn't initially considered.
What's Included
- discovery-interview SKILL.md: Complete interview framework with question templates and decision logic
- Interview Phase Checklists: Structured templates for Initial Orientation, Deep Dive, and Specification phases
- Project Type Decision Tree: Quick reference for tailoring questions to backend services, frontend apps, mobile, CLI tools, scripts, and libraries
- Knowledge Gap Research Prompts: Templates for investigating uncertain areas and educating stakeholders
- Specification Template: Structured outline for synthesizing interview findings into actionable project specs
Who It's For
- Technical recruiters — Assess candidate understanding of project requirements and problem-solving approach during interviews
- Product managers — Conduct discovery calls with stakeholders to clarify vague feature requests into detailed specifications
- Engineering leaders — Lead requirements-gathering sessions with cross-functional teams to surface assumptions and align on scope
- Consultants and freelancers — Conduct client discovery calls to understand true business needs before proposing solutions
- Project managers — Facilitate stakeholder interviews to build comprehensive project briefs and identify risks early
Best For
- Requirements clarification — Converting "we need a new system" into detailed, implementable specifications
- Stakeholder alignment — Surfacing hidden assumptions and tradeoffs that affect project success
- Knowledge gap identification — Detecting where teams are uncertain and need education or research
- Scope definition — Establishing clear project boundaries and preventing scope creep
- Cross-functional discovery — Interviewing technical and non-technical stakeholders in a structured, unbiased way
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