Discovery Call
📝 Context
You have a call scheduled with a prospect or new customer. The goal is to understand their environment, constraints, timeline, and what success looks like to them - before you scope or promise anything.
📋 Pre-Call Checklist
- [ ] Review any notes from sales (CRM, Slack, email threads)
- [ ] Understand what product/solution they're evaluating
- [ ] Check if there's existing documentation about this customer
- [ ] Know who's on the call and their roles
- [ ] Have your discovery questions ready (don't wing it)
- [ ] Test your screen share and demo environment if applicable
- [ ] Block time after the call for notes ⏱️ 15 min
🎯 Discovery Question Framework
Environment & Infrastructure
- What does your current deployment environment look like?
- Are you running Kubernetes? If so, what distribution?
- Is this environment air-gapped or network-restricted?
- What are your egress/ingress constraints?
- Do you have a container registry? Can it pull from external sources?
- What CI/CD tooling are you using today?
Security & Compliance
- Are there compliance requirements we should know about? (FedRAMP, SOC 2, ITAR, etc.)
- Who approves software for deployment? Is there a review process?
- What's your change management process look like?
- Are there restrictions on tooling or languages?
Timeline & Stakeholders
- What's driving the timeline for this evaluation?
- Who else needs to be involved in the decision?
- Is there a specific event or deadline we're working toward?
- Have you evaluated other solutions? What did you like or not like?
Success Criteria
- What does a successful POC look like to you?
- What would make you confident enough to move forward?
- Are there specific use cases or workflows you need to validate?
- What's the "must have" vs "nice to have"?
Operational Readiness
- Who will own this in production?
- What does your support model look like?
- What monitoring/observability tooling do you use?
- How do you handle upgrades and patching today?
During the Call
- Let them talk. You're here to learn, not pitch.
- Take notes in real-time (or have someone else do it)
- Repeat back what you hear: "So if I understand correctly..."
- Don't commit to scope or timeline on the call
- Ask "what did I not ask that I should have?"
💡 Tip: Ask "what did I not ask that I should have?" before ending the call.
📋 Post-Call Checklist
- [ ] Write up notes within 24 hours
- [ ] Share summary with sales and internal team
- [ ] Identify any blockers or red flags
- [ ] Draft next steps and send follow-up email to customer
- [ ] Update CRM/tracking system
⚠️ Gotchas
- The "we're cloud-native" trap - often means constraints exist anyway
- Talking to the wrong person - know who decides vs. who evaluates
- Assuming environment access - always ask explicitly
- Skipping the "why now" - urgency helps you prioritize