Discovery Workshop Synthesis

Transform your Action Mapping workshop outputs into all four key discovery documents through a guided interview process.

What This Skill Does

After you've facilitated a discovery workshop with stakeholders and SMEs, this skill helps you:

Synthesize raw workshop notes into structured insights
Generate four key deliverables:
- Meeting Summary
- Formal Needs Analysis
- Action Map Summary
- Design Brief
Create Learner Persona(s)
Ensure all documents align with your adapted Action Mapping methodology

Your Adapted Action Mapping Process

This skill follows your team's adapted methodology:

1. Content Audit → Review existing training/content BEFORE stakeholder sessions
2. Business Goal → Define measurable business outcome with stakeholders
3. Behaviors + Obstacles → Map both what people should do AND why they're not doing it
4. Practice Activities → Design realistic scenarios for behavior change
5. Knowledge Pull → Identify what info learners need during activities

For detailed methodology reference, see adapted-action-mapping.md

How to Use This Skill

Option 1: Full Guided Process

Say: "Help me process my discovery workshop outputs" or invoke /discovery-workshop

I will interview you through each phase:

Content audit findings
Business goal identification
Behaviors and obstacles mapping
Target audience insights
Document generation

Option 2: Specific Document

If you only need one output:

"Create a needs analysis from my workshop notes"
"Generate a design brief for this project"
"Build a learner persona for [audience]"
"Summarize my workshop into a meeting summary"

Option 3: Process Raw Notes

Paste your workshop notes and say: "Synthesize these into discovery documents"

Interview Process

I'll guide you through these questions:

Phase 1: Content Audit

What existing training or content did you review before the workshop?
What were the key findings? (What's good? What's outdated? What's missing?)
Is any existing content reusable?

Phase 2: Business Goal

What business problem are we trying to solve?
How is this problem currently measured?
What does success look like? What metrics will change?
Who requested this training and why now?

Phase 3: Behaviors + Obstacles

What specific actions should people be doing on the job?
Which behaviors have the highest impact on the business goal?
Why aren't people performing these behaviors now?
- Knowledge gaps?
- Skill gaps?
- Environmental barriers?
- Motivation issues?

Phase 4: Target Audience

Who exactly needs this training?
What do they already know?
What's their attitude toward this training?
What constraints do they have (time, technology, environment)?

Phase 5: Constraints & Context

What's the timeline?
What technology/platform will be used?
Are there compliance or accessibility requirements?
Who are the key stakeholders?

Output Documents

1. Meeting Summary

Quick reference document capturing:

Key decisions made
Action items with owners
Open questions
Notable quotes and insights

Template: meeting-summary-template.md

2. Formal Needs Analysis

Comprehensive discovery document including:

Business goal and success metrics
Current vs. desired state gap analysis
Target audience profile
Key behaviors and obstacles
Content requirements
Constraints and considerations
Recommended solution

Template: needs-analysis-template.md

3. Action Map Summary

Text representation of your action map:

Business goal at center
Priority behaviors listed
Obstacles mapped to each behavior
Practice activity ideas

Template: action-map-template.md

4. Design Brief

Concise document for handoff to design phase:

One-sentence project summary
Business goal
Target audience summary
Key behaviors to address
Proposed solution overview
Success metrics
Constraints

Template: design-brief-template.md

5. Learner Persona(s)

Detailed fictional profiles:

Demographics and background
Goals and motivations
Challenges and pain points
Learning preferences
Technology profile
Design implications

Template: learner-persona-template.md

Tips for Better Discovery

Before the Workshop

Review existing content/training first
Prepare a clear agenda
Identify who needs to be in the room

During the Workshop

Focus on behaviors, not content
Capture specific examples and quotes
Challenge assumptions ("How do you know that?")
Note disagreements—they reveal important tensions

After the Workshop

Process notes within 24-48 hours while fresh
Send meeting summary for validation
Flag open questions that need follow-up

Examples

See examples/sample-discovery-outputs.md for sample outputs from a completed discovery process.

Related Commands

/objectives - Generate learning objectives from behaviors
/synthesize-notes - Quick note synthesis without full workflow
/learner-persona - Generate a single persona quickly
/bloom-verbs - Reference for objective writing

Getting Started

Ready to process your workshop? Tell me:

What project is this for? (client/project name)
Do you have raw notes to share? (paste them or reference a file)
Which outputs do you need? (all four, or specific documents)

Or just paste your workshop notes and I'll guide you through the process.