ConveyUX is a series of events, produced by Blink UX, of interest to user experience professionals. www.conveyux.com Discovery, the first part of the design process, is crucial for aligning teams. A well-aligned team works toward the same goal, and brings out the best in each other because they all understand what their trying to achieve. Discovery can take many forms: a multi-month endeavor to prepare for a complex business application, or a four-day “sprint” to align the team around a vision for a new product. Whatever the form, however, teams are prepping and priming themselves to do detailed design and development work. Discovery is complicated, chaotic, and messy. In discovery, teams gather information about the problem and then explore different ways to tackle it. Through critical thinking, they refine their understanding of the problem and zero-in on a concrete plan for execution. Discovery requires participants to shift attitudes and perspectives almost constantly. Team members go from “tell me more about” to “how about this idea” in the blink of an eye. To pull this off successfully, team members need to embrace a discovery mindset. This attitude emphasizes learning. It relies on team members maintaining an open mind, questioning everything, and above all not taking themselves too seriously. In this session, we’ll look at why a design discovery mindset is important, how it affects your approach to discovery, and ways you can cultivate this mindset in yourself.