What is Discovery?

Formerly, Discovery was an organizational unit within the MIT Information Systems department, responsible for conducting preliminary investigations of projects related to technology services and support.

With a reorganization of the department (now called Information Services and Technology) into fewer functional units, Discovery is no longer an organizational unit, but it remains the essential first stage in undertaking new work. As a methodology, Discovery is concerned with such questions as:

• What do customers really need?
• What is the impact of this tool/product/service on the intended user? Will anything change? Is it all for the better? Will anything have to be given up?
• What impact with this have on the organization? Who will maintain it? What support services will need to be in place? Who will provide documentation and training? What is the rollout plan, so that the community will know about it and be able to take advantage of it?
• What are the costs of doing this—not just purchase and/or development, but the total cost of ownership and operation, including ongoing support and maintenance costs?
• What are the costs of not doing this—inefficiencies, lost opportunities, and so forth?

A Structured Process

Discovery is a structured, business-oriented process that distinguishes excellent initiatives from a large number of good ideas. The process works in a project-based environment, and the work is usually accomplished by cross-organizational and cross-functional teams.

Strategically, Discovery projects promote the creative interplay of ideas and initiatives arising from a variety of perspectives: customers, vendors, redesign efforts, and the broader landscape of higher education and information technology.

Discover projects conclude with a set of recommendations for next steps. These recommendations may be to take no action, to begin a set of near-term activities, or to implement a high-level transformational design. Even in the event of a "no go" recommendation, participants can still walk away with a better understanding of future possibilities.

Discovery is an inquiry into a better way of doing business and a process for energizing implementation of improvements. Discovery project findings and recommendations set the stage for an accelerated work path within IS&T teams responsible for providing I/T services and support.

For Further Information

• Workings of Discovery Projects

Presentations

• Discovery 101: A Guide to Discovery at MIT. 2001 presentation to I/T Leadership Team showing organizational aspects of Discovery, plus stages in Discovery projects.
• Is this what we should be doing? 2004 presentation at NERCOMP (PDF format).