DISCOVER
The DISCOVER phase transforms a raw stream of issues into a prioritised, actionable triage report.
What enters, what exits
| Comes from | — (pipeline entry): a raw stream of issues |
| What enters | Raw issue or milestone to process |
| What exits | Prioritised triage report (priority, labels, effort) |
| Goes to | DISCUSS — which refines the selected issues into stories |
| Responsible agent | backlog-discoverer |
| Associated reviewer | backlog-discoverer-reviewer |
Why this phase exists
Without systematic triage, teams work on whatever is loudest, not whatever is most valuable. The reviewer verifies that prioritisation is coherent and no duplicates were missed.
« Peer reviews are the single most effective quality practice a software organization can employ. » — Wiegers, K., Peer Reviews in Software, 2002.
☕ Running example — Starbucks (illustrative)
The idea “enable mobile ordering in the app” enters here as a raw issue. DISCOVER prioritises it P1, detects it overlaps an existing “in-app payment” request, and emits it in a triage report. That report is what DISCUSS receives.
What the agent produces
- MoSCoW priority classification.
- Duplicate and related-issue detection.
- Initial effort estimation.
- Sprint proposal.
Gates crossed here
This phase crosses gates G1–G6 (see the gates catalogue). Each gate is checked by the independent reviewer before moving on to DISCUSS.