Phase 1: Discover

Purpose

The Discover phase casts a wide net across the problem space. It gathers data, insights, existing research, competitive landscape, and stakeholder perspectives without filtering or narrowing.

Usage

/research:discover <topic>

Example:

/research:discover user onboarding friction

What It Does

1. Searches the web for recent articles, studies, reports, and discussions
2. Reads key sources in depth (5-8 quality sources)
3. Maps stakeholder perspectives and pain points
4. Analyzes the competitive and market landscape
5. Identifies patterns, themes, and contradictions
6. Writes findings to .metapowers/research/<topic>/01-discover.md

Output

Creates .metapowers/research/<topic>/01-discover.md containing:

• Sources consulted with key takeaways
• User and stakeholder insights
• Market and competitive landscape
• Key themes and patterns
• Surprises and contradictions
• Open questions for the Define phase

Next Phase

After Discover, proceed to Define to synthesize findings into a problem statement.