Discovery

WHAT DISCOVERY IS

Discovery is a structured clarification phase used only when scope, risk, or authority cannot be defined safely during initial intake. It exists to remove ambiguity before commitment. It is not delivery, design, or advisory work.

WHY IT EXISTS

Discovery exists to stop ambiguity turning into cost, delay, or operational problems later. When scope or authority is not yet safe to define, proceeding straight to delivery creates two predictable failure modes: pricing a moving target, or committing to responsibility that was never agreed.

In most cases, discovery results in a defined and workable path forward. On rare occasions, however, it may conclude that the request should not proceed in its current form. When that occurs, the outcome is still considered successful, because it prevents misaligned or unsafe work from progressing.

RESPONSIBILITY TIERS

SKS classifies work by risk and decision impact. Higher tiers do not mean higher urgency. They mean higher responsibility.

Tier 1 — Assistive
Low consequence. Advisory or explanatory support.

Tier 2 — Procedural
Rule-based enforcement within defined boundaries.

Tier 3 — Decision Support
Recommendations that may influence financial or operational outcomes. Human oversight required.

Tier 4 — Governance / Harm-Sensitive
Incorrect outcomes could cause legal, financial, security, or safety consequences. Discovery is mandatory at this level.

WHEN DISCOVERY IS REQUIRED

Discovery is required only when safe scope definition cannot be produced from intake alone. Typical triggers include incomplete or conflicting rules, unclear authority boundaries, partial or undocumented access, or structural dependencies that increase regression risk once work begins.

The deciding factor is consequence. If the downside of being wrong extends beyond minor inconvenience — financially, operationally, legally, or in terms of governance posture — discovery becomes the correct next step. If safe scope can be defined during intake, discovery is not used.

WHAT DISCOVERY PRODUCES

Discovery produces a clarified problem definition and a documented risk / responsibility classification. It makes assumptions explicit, identifies what is knowable vs unknown, and establishes whether the request can be made governable under SKS operating rules.

It ends with a defined next step: proceed with a scope that can be quoted, reshape the request to reduce risk, delay until prerequisites exist, or decline if the decision class should not be automated. Discovery ends with clarity. It does not roll into delivery automatically.

WHAT DISCOVERY IS NOT

Discovery is not a sales call, and it is not open-ended consulting. It is a bounded clarification phase used to determine whether work can proceed safely, and if so, under what scope, constraints, and authority limits.

It is also not design or build work, and it creates no obligation to proceed. Either party can stop after discovery with a documented outcome, and that outcome is considered complete.

NEXT STEP

If Discovery is required, it will be explained clearly before commitment. If it is not required, we proceed directly to defined scope and quotation.