Program Discovery Basics

Let’s cover the basics of program discovery.

What is program discovery?

Program discovery becomes necessary when you jump into a program that is already in progress. It is the process of discovering program health.

Remember: there are three vitals signs of a healthy program. Each of these three elements build on top of each other. Vision is foundational. Alignment of vision and how to get there comes next. Then comes best practices for execution.

Poor execution could be a result of failed alignment or a poorly crafted vision.

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Vital signs of a healthy program
Vital signs of a healthy program

Program discovery document

The primary output is a program discovery document.

This is a document containing your findings from program discovery efforts. This is similar to creating a program charter or program plan. But this is a snapshot record of the current status of the program across these three factors.

It should contain the following:

  • Evaluation of the clarity of vision

  • Evaluation of alignment across the stakeholder groups

  • Evaluation of execution practices

  • Recommendations for program improvement

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Components of the program discovery document
Components of the program discovery document

When you are pulled into an existing program, set the expectation early on that you will need time to perform this program discovery so that you can guarantee high-value contributions to program performance.

This won't take a single day. But it also ...