pdd-discovery-workshop

name

pdd-discovery-workshop

description

Use this skill to plan a discovery workshop for a client project. Reads the project information (goals, scope, stakeholders, time available) and recommends a plan — a warm-up plus 1–2 longer exercises (sessions are usually 1–2 hours) from the Infinum/ETR activity library, sequenced to fit the time. Triggers whenever a user wants to: plan or design a discovery workshop, build a workshop agenda or run-of-show, choose workshop activities, prepare a kick-off / alignment / ideation session with a client, or set up a FigJam facilitation board. Also trigger when the user says "discovery workshop", "workshop plan", "workshop agenda", "kickoff workshop", "facilitation board", "which exercises should we run", or "plan a session with the client" — even if they don't call it a skill. Output is a formatted .docx run-of-show plus a FigJam board scaffold (one section per activity). Cowork-ready — the .docx run-of-show uses Cowork's built-in docx toolchain, and the FigJam board builds via the Figma remote MCP connector (`create_new_file`/`use_figma`), falling back to a Markdown scaffold if that connector isn't enabled.

PDD Discovery Workshop Planner

Before you start: Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/instructions.md and follow its PDD persona and Infinum brand rules throughout — including the document branding (Helvetica Neue, #000/#D8262D/#E4EBF5, Infinum logo top-right) on every file this skill produces.

This skill plans a discovery workshop — the session run at the start of a project with the client to capture project goals, scope, and stakeholder insight. Our sessions are usually 1–2 hours, so the default plan is one warm-up + 1–2 longer exercises (not a packed half-day). It reads the project context, recommends a plan, and on approval produces two outputs:

1. A run-of-show .docx — the facilitation agenda with timings, purposes, and notes.
2. A FigJam board scaffold — an empty, sectioned board ready to facilitate on.

This is the PDD DISCOVER phase. Orient the plan around alignment and evidence: a workshop exists to discover real value with the client, not to confirm assumptions (Context Before Commitment).

Reference files (read as needed):

• references/activity-library.md — the full activity menu with times, purposes, and selection notes.
• references/workshop-patterns.md — how to map goals → activities, sequence, budget time, and ready-made templates.
• references/figjam-scaffold.md — how to build the FigJam facilitation board.
• references/example-workshop.md — an anonymized example workshop board, captured as a structural exemplar to model board shape and flow.

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Phase 0 — Gather project context

First scan the conversation for project background already shared (brief, SOW, prior PDD work, stakeholder notes). Use what's there before asking.

To plan a good workshop you need:

Item	Why it matters
Project name & type	Header, framing, and which activities fit (website / app / platform / rebrand…).
Primary goals for the workshop	The single biggest driver of activity selection. What must the team walk away knowing or deciding?
Where the project is	Brand-new vs. mid-flight changes which DISCOVER activities make sense.
Who's in the room	Number of participants, roles, seniority mix (affects warm-up + silent vs. open formats).
Total time available	Usually 1–2 hrs. Determines number of longer exercises (60 min = 1; 90 min = 1–2; 2 hrs = 2).
Remote or in-person	Affects pacing and whether a FigJam board is the primary surface.

If key items are missing, ask all at once (don't interrogate one at a time):

Before I plan the workshop, a few quick things:

1. What's the project? Name + what you're building (and for whom).
2. What do you most need to get out of this workshop? e.g. align on goals, understand users, prioritise scope, generate design ideas, de-risk the build.
3. How much time do you have, and is it remote or in person?
4. Who's in the room? Rough number and roles.

If the user gives goals but leaves something ambiguous that materially changes the plan (e.g. time, or whether personas already exist), ask that one targeted follow-up rather than guessing. Otherwise proceed — you have process knowledge; defer to the user on their context.

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Phase 1 — Recommend the plan

Using workshop-patterns.md and activity-library.md:

1. Map goals → activity groups (Step A in patterns). Identify the 1–2 groups that serve the stated goals.
2. Choose the warm-up — one, matched to the session (Extra, Extra! primes vision sessions; Two Truths / Either-Or teach board mechanics).
3. Choose 1–2 longer exercises (1 for a 60-min session; 2 for ~2 hrs; 3 only for a rare half/full day). Each must map to a stated goal; avoid redundant pairs (e.g. Elevator Pitch and Press Release). With little time, prefer doing one exercise well over cramming two.
4. Sequence them: warm-up first, diverge before converge, Context → Users → Design, optional retro last (Step B).
5. Budget the time (Step C) — sum activity midpoints + intro + transitions + breaks + buffer + wrap-up, and confirm it fits. Adjust if it overflows/underflows.
6. You may suggest an activity outside the library when no listed activity serves a goal — name it, timebox it, and explain the gap it fills (see the bottom of activity-library.md).

Present the proposed agenda to the user before building anything (this skill never skips the check-in — per the plugin's "check in before proceeding"). Show it as a compact table:

#	Activity	Time	Why it's here (goal it serves)

Include the running total vs. available time, and 1–2 sentences on the overall logic of the flow. Offer one alternative for any swappable slot ("for prioritisation I went with Value-Effort Matrix; Buy a Feature is an option if you want more negotiation"). Then ask:

Does this shape look right? I can swap any activity, change the depth, or re-balance the timing before I build the run-of-show and the FigJam board.

Wait for approval or edits before Phase 2.

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Phase 2 — Generate the run-of-show (.docx)

Once approved, read the docx skill instructions first (/mnt/skills/public/docx/SKILL.md), then build the document. Save to /mnt/user-data/outputs/discovery_workshop_plan.docx.

Branding — use the Infinum brand (see the plugin's "Brand & Document Styling" rules): Helvetica Neue throughout (bold headlines), black #000000 body text, Infinum red #D8262D as the accent (title rule, activity-number labels, section dividers), and #E4EBF5 for table header fills or the "Agenda at a glance" block. Keep it white-dominant and clean. Place the Infinum logo small in the top-right of the title block — embed assets/logo-color.png from this plugin's directory at ~120–160px wide (preserve its ~7:1 aspect ratio). If the logo or font can't be resolved in the run, fall back gracefully and tell the user what was substituted.

Structure:

1. Title block — "Discovery Workshop — [Project]", date, total duration, format (remote/in-person), participant list/roles.
2. Workshop goals — 2–4 bullet goals this session is designed to achieve.
3. Agenda at a glance — the table from Phase 1 (activity, time, start–end clock times).
4. Run-of-show — one section per activity, in order. For each:
   • Activity name, timebox, and (warm-up / longer) tag.
   • Purpose — from the library, tailored to this project.
   • How to run it — 3–6 facilitation steps.
   • Materials / board section — what's needed; which FigJam section it maps to.
   • Output — what the team should leave the activity with.
5. Facilitation notes — roles (facilitator, note-taker, timekeeper), break plan, remote tips if relevant, and a parking-lot reminder.
6. After the workshop — suggested synthesis next steps (e.g. affinity mapping, archetypes, discovery readout) — name relevant PDD tools/skills.

Then validate:

python3 /mnt/skills/public/docx/scripts/office/validate.py \
  /mnt/user-data/outputs/discovery_workshop_plan.docx

Fallback: if generation fails, write the same content to /mnt/user-data/outputs/discovery_workshop_plan.md.

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Phase 3 — Generate the FigJam board scaffold

Checkpoint — confirm before generating the FigJam file. Do not create the board without an explicit go-ahead. First, re-present the workshop plan so the user can see exactly what the board will be built from: show the finalized agenda (activity, time, order, and the goal each serves) plus the running total vs. available time. Then ask:

Here's the plan the FigJam board will be built from. Want me to change anything — swap an activity, adjust the timing, add or drop an exercise — or should I go ahead and generate the FigJam file?

If the user requests changes, revise the plan and re-present it; only proceed once they confirm they want the file generated. (This gate applies even if the plan was already approved earlier for the .docx — always reconfirm immediately before building the board.)

Once confirmed, read references/figjam-scaffold.md, then build the board.

1. Ask where to create it:

   Where should I create the FigJam board? I can place it in one of your Figma teams — let me know which, or share a project URL. Use Figma:whoami to list teams if needed.

2. Create a board named "Discovery Workshop — [Project]" via Figma:create_new_file (editorType: "figjam"), then build it with Figma:use_figma (read the /figma-use skill first if available).
3. Build the board left-to-right: an onboarding zone first (title card, Agenda, Figma basics, keyboard shortcuts), then one section per agenda item in run order, each pre-loaded with the activity's working structure (templates in figjam-scaffold.md). Add the colour legend, a Parking Lot section, and — when the workshop should feed straight into insights — a synthesis tail (Opportunity Statements → Themes → How Might We), as modelled in example-workshop.md.
4. Seed structure only — never participant content. No invented stickies, votes, quotes, or data (Simplicity Takes Work). The board must read as empty-and-ready.

Fallback: if Figma tools aren't connected, produce the scaffold as a markdown spec (/mnt/user-data/outputs/figjam_board_scaffold.md) listing each section and its structure so the facilitator can build it by hand — and tell the user the Figma connector would let you build it directly.

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Phase 4 — Deliver & review

Present the file(s) with present_files and include this starting-point warning verbatim (per the plugin's output policy):

A note on this plan: This workshop plan and board are a starting point, not a finished deliverable. The activity choices and timings are recommendations based on the goals you shared — review them against your read of the room, the client relationship, and how the conversation is likely to go. Expect to swap activities, adjust timings, and refine the prompts. Workshops always run long, so protect your highest-value exercise. Everything is editable. Per Keep It Human, treat this as a shared starting point to review and refine together with the team — not a finished plan.

Then ask:

Want me to adjust anything — swap an activity, change the timing, add or drop an exercise, or tailor the prompts for a specific activity? I can also build the stakeholder or user interview guides for the discovery phase if that's useful.

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Quality checklist

Before presenting, verify:

• Exactly one warm-up, placed first.
• 1–2 longer exercises for a typical 1–2 hr session (1 at 60 min; 3 only for a rare half/full day); each maps to a stated goal.
• No redundant pairs; diverge-before-converge and Context→Users→Design ordering respected.
• Time math reconciles with overhead (intro, transitions, breaks, buffer, wrap-up).
• Any off-list activity is flagged with the gap it fills.
• No fabricated content anywhere — the board and plan seed structure and prompts only.
• The agenda was shown to the user and approved before files were built.
• The plan was re-presented and the user explicitly confirmed before the FigJam file was generated.
• The starting-point warning is included with the delivered files.

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Files in this skill

Path	Purpose
SKILL.md	This file — workflow instructions
references/activity-library.md	The full discovery-activity menu with times, purposes, selection notes
references/workshop-patterns.md	Goal→activity mapping, sequencing, time budgeting, ready-made templates
references/figjam-scaffold.md	FigJam facilitation-board structure and Figma API notes
references/example-workshop.md	Anonymized example workshop board (structural exemplar)