CX Mental Models & Frameworks · Research & Discovery
Discovery Phase Knowledge Quadrant
Before building anything, catalog what you know, what you assume, and what you still need to discover.
The Discovery Phase Knowledge Quadrant is used at the start of a project to separate evidence from assumption. Instead of jumping into features, teams map what is known, what is guessed, and what needs research — reducing project risk and waste before a line of code is written.
Most project risk hides in unexamined assumptions. The Knowledge Quadrant exposes where a team is shooting in the dark — relying on guesses instead of customer intelligence — and marks exactly where observational research is required before commitments get made.
- Flags junk science: decisions built on assumption instead of evidence
- Replaces solution-by-workshop guessing with targeted research
- Surfaces CX debt that teams have been sweeping under the rug
- Defines out-of-scope items early, before the feature factory takes over
A guess written on a sticky note is still a guess.
Apply this
Reading about discovery phase knowledge quadrant is one thing. Seeing where it applies in your journey is the useful part.