WebsiteDesignOutsource.com blog
Discovery Questions for an Outsourced Website Design Project
Use focused discovery questions to give an outsourced website designer useful context before the first screen is designed.
Discovery does not need to become a long workshop. It needs to uncover the decisions that will affect pages, content, and review. Ask questions that reveal the customer's situation, not questions that simply collect preferences.
Ask about the visitor
Who arrives on the page? What brought them there? What do they already understand, and what might make them hesitate? Answers should describe a real task or concern. "Everyone" is not an audience definition that helps with a layout.
Ask about the business decision
What must the site explain? Which claims are approved? Which services or audiences are out of scope? Ask who can approve a factual statement and what evidence the designer may use.
Ask about the existing site
Which pages earn attention, cause confusion, or receive useful enquiries? Note pages that must keep their URLs. Ask for analytics access only when it is needed and define who will control that access.
Turn answers into a short record
Write decisions beside open questions. Give each open question an owner and a next review date. The record becomes a reference when feedback later pulls the page in different directions.
Further reading
Run a focused discovery workshop
Source
Nielsen Norman Group, user interviews
Frequently asked questions
Who should attend discovery?
Include the person who knows the audience, the person who approves the work, and the person who can answer technical questions. Add more people only when they own a decision.
What if answers conflict?
Record the conflict instead of averaging it away. Ask the named decision owner to choose the audience, requirement, or evidence that controls the page.