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Discovery Questions Framework
The 7 discovery dimensions — the single biggest differentiator between senior and junior FDEs.
| Dimension | Questions to Ask | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Users & personas | Who uses this daily? Power users vs casual? Internal vs external? | Drives UX, latency budget |
| Jobs-to-be-done | What task is automated? What does success look like for one task? | Defines the eval rubric |
| Data inventory | What sources? Structured/unstructured? PII volume? Refresh cadence? | RAG vs fine-tune decision |
| Existing stack | Identity provider? Cloud? Data warehouse? Ticketing? | Integration = 60% of FDE work |
| Compliance | HIPAA? SOC2? GDPR? Data residency? | Architectural non-negotiables |
| Success metrics | Time saved? Tickets deflected? CSAT? Revenue? | Can't optimize unmeasured |
| Constraints | Budget? Timeline? Team size? Build vs buy? | Right-sizes the architecture |
Pro Move
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