Each project presents different combinations of key drivers and threats to consider. Below is an outline of a pragmatic process, series of questions, useful in so far as it prepares clients and prospects for what collaborating could look like. It facilitates drawing a map of a problem-space that can be updated as we discover and research more.

Discovery, Triage & Proof of Concept - This is scoping, but not often the physical form of the deliverable so much as the requirements, i.e. without forcing unavailable precision about what ought to be built. We are trying to sketch a map that we will improve as we go. Sharing relevant context and perspectives in plain sight, a common set of information. Alignment and common understanding fall out of sharing and testing for common understanding.

What is the current solution (best guess)? What would need to be true to justify improving it? How aligned are constituencies on the objectives and considerations, or is expanded dialog useful before proceeding too far? What issues are likely material and vague enough to merit investigation (how do we know that we understand the size of the problem)? What working assumptions are most fundamental and how do we test/confirm we have a common understanding and alignment?

Research & Iteration - Having assessed the biggest threats, we now need to test the assertions, confirming the key dimensions and their impact/materiality. This phase is characterized by moving from detailed investigations to implications and big picture, over and over.

How we can we simply illustrate or test key factors (do we understand priorities)? What dimensions are larger/smaller than we thought? Are we making any simplifying assumptions that could be costly to defer? Which constraints are problematic and should they be interpreted as preferences? What are the biggest surprises? Which preferences are stronger and should be interpreted as constraints? How confident are we that we have command of the problem, that our map is representative, if blurry?

Synthesis & Decision - This is the process of stitching together all of the assumptions and research threads into a state of the problem and the best decision they can make given where we stand. This part of the process is principally a test of the earlier step at various levels assessing if the work is sufficient on an element of the project as well as the whole.

Where is the quality of the work broadly? Are the weak spots critical, can they be shored up? If we stopped researching, what decision would be made? If the collaborators have command of the problem, is it ready to test with other constituencies?

Design & Delivery - For projects with a natural deliverable, whether a writeup, a model, or a presentation/discussion, our understanding of the problem is sufficient to proceed.

How much of the deliverable is the framing, exploration and synthesis? What documentation is valuable, to whom, over what time frame, to what end, ie. a writeup or report for posterity, other audiences/decision makers. Does it prompt discussion or is it a complete thought, conveying the research completed, rigor and design communicated? Is a physical tool needed? For whom, in what form, covering which dimensions of the problem space?