What questions to ask in a Discovery & Definition meeting

Earlier this year our Founder & Director David Lockie spoke at WooConf and WordCamp Europe about our Discovery & Definition processes.

Discovery & Definition is the proven method which we use to plan projects successfully from the very beginning. You can find out more about our Discovery & Definition approach to project planning below:

After many requests, we’ve decided to share some of the questions we ask in a Discovery & Definition meeting. Here is a selection of the questions we ask below:

About you

• When was the organisation founded?
• Who are your internal stakeholders for this project?
• Who are your customers?
• Who are your competitors?

About the project

• What’s the basic type of project?
• What’s your budget for this project?
• What is your ideal go-live date?
• Are there any project collaborators?
• Who is our point of contact for the project?
• Are there any reference sites you particularly like?

Current site

• Do you have a current site?
• Where is your current site hosted?
• What do you like about your current site?
• Do you have any web analytics you can share?
• Do we need to do any data/content migration?

Marketing

• What channels do you use?
• Do you have any specific marketing goals for the new site?

Content & assets

• Do you have a sitemap planned?
• How will we handle uploading initial content to the site?
• Have you created your copy yet?
• Do we need to set up any redirects?

Design

• Do you have a logo?
• Do you have a brand book?
• Do you have existing imagery of your own?
• Do you want us to source any stock photography?
• Do you have any wireframes?
• Do you want us to do any web design work?
• Are there any specific structural design notes?
• Does the design require custom web font integration?

Technology

• Where is your domain registered?
• Where is your DNS currently hosted?
• What web platform are we going to build this site in?
• Where will the new site be hosted?
• Do you want us to use your own version control?

Functionality

• Do you have any protected content requirements?
• Do you want us to perform any integrations?
• Do you want an SSL certificate?
• Do you have any specific accessibility requirements?
• Do you have any browser compatibility requirements?
• Do you want commenting or other user-generated content?
• Do you have any security requirements?
• Do you have any specific analytics requirements?
• Do you have any specific form requirements?
• Are there any other specific technology requirements?

eCommerce

• Do you want eCommerce?
• Where do you ship?
• Do you need multicurrency?
• What payment gateways do you want to offer?
• Do you run any sort of sale or promotion?
• Do you need data feeds for e.g. Google Shopping?

Training and site management

• Who will be the site administrator?
• Who will manage content going forwards?
• Do you already have WordPress experience?
• What are your training requirements?

WordPress specifics

• What theme are we going to use?
• Any specific plugins we need to use?
• Are there any specific workflow requirements?
• Are there any user profile or account requirements?

Ongoing services

• Do you want us to do WordPress maintenance for you?
• Do you want an ongoing support agreement?
• Do you want us to set up ongoing, automated testing?
• Do you want us to manage your DNS for you?

We hope you’ve found these questions useful! If you’re looking for WordPress experts to build and successfully project plan your new website, get in touch.