Discovery at scale

Theming the challenges

900 comments and 19 workshops. Here’s how we got to the crux and found right problems to solve.

Discovery is powerful, but it can also overwhelm. When you’re faced with a mountain of data, the challenge eventually shifts from collecting more to knowing what matters.

Ahead of a new IT strategy and core systems update, we set out to understand where the real pain was for staff. 

IT projects can be seen through a purely technical lens, and they’re a big investment. We wanted to take a different tack: a human-centred discovery process at scale, right up front, broadly framed around business capability.

We looked at system data through reports like CRMs and service-desk requests. Engaged directly with staff via surveys and workshops, asking what mattered and where systems, tools and processes weren’t supporting them. And we mapped what each team relied on.

What helped us navigate were four questions:

• Do we have multiple perspectives and ways of looking at the challenge?

• What patterns are emerging in what we’re hearing?

• Do we have a full enough picture to be confident?

• Which issues are just ‘interesting’ versus fundamentally change the organisation’s ability to deliver?

These questions helped us synthesise hundreds of data points, stories and quotes into a handful of key insights - and frame the key problems to solve. From there, the next step was getting to work on the how.

👉 Takeaway: For major projects, consider discovery as a worthwhile investment to make sure projects are focused on the right problems.