What needs to be finished first
An established delivery setup with stable sprint cadence, definition of done, and maintainable backlog practice exists.
An outcome with identified opportunities is formulated, and discovery experiments are aligned to it.
What needs to be ready before start
Two clearly separated boards (Discovery Track and Delivery Track) or two lanes on one board; experiment backlog (hypotheses, status, results); delivery backlog (validated stories); tracking tool with both tracks; measurement setup for discovery outcomes.
Discovery trio (Product Manager, Designer, Engineer) for Discovery Track; remaining engineering team for Delivery Track; Scrum Master or team lead protecting discovery capacity; stakeholders for reviews; researcher (optional).
Current outcome or product goal; opportunity list; assumptions backlog with priority; delivery backlog with ready status; cadence (typically 2-week sprint); discovery method set (interview, prototype, fake door).
Ongoing, alongside delivery cadence
Board with two lanes or two boards. Discovery lane with columns (Idea, Experiment designed, Running, Synthesis, Validated, Rejected). Delivery lane as usual. Cadence meetings: weekly discovery sync, handoff touchpoint at each sprint planning.
The one question this method answers
Which assumption does Discovery test in this sprint, which validated story enters Delivery, and how is handoff between both tracks kept continuous?
Marker: Phase
| Step | Duration | Action | Hint |
|---|---|---|---|
1Phase 1: Track setup | Initial 1 day | Name discovery trio, define capacity per person (for example 30-50% discovery, rest delivery). Set up boards. Schedule discovery cadence in calendar. Define readiness for transition to delivery. | If discovery capacity is not protected, delivery will consume it. Protection means explicitly setting fixed discovery hours per person and making them visible before sprint planning. |
2Phase 2: Discovery cycle | 1-2 weeks per experiment | Pull top assumption from backlog. Design experiment (method, sample, success criterion). Run it (interview, prototype test, fake door, analytics spike). Synthesize, learning report, status update. | Discovery cycle needs its own cadence, not sprint cadence. Some experiments last 3 days, others 4 weeks. Forcing sprint rhythm breaks research. |
3Phase 3: Handoff Discovery -> Delivery | 30-60 min per transitioning story | Formulate validated solution as a delivery-ready story: acceptance criteria, mockups, edge cases, measurement setup. Review with delivery team. Rank by priority in backlog. | Passing stories without acceptance criteria shifts clarification work into delivery and reduces delivery speed. Ready means truly ready. |
4Phase 4: Delivery cycle | Sprint cadence (1-4 weeks) | Deliver as usual: sprint planning, daily, review, retrospective. Focus on validated stories. Track telemetry and outcome metrics from discovery setup live. | Delivery should reserve at least 70% capacity for validated stories, with remaining capacity for maintenance and unplanned work. If emergencies exceed 30%, both tracks are at risk. |
5Phase 5: Feedback Delivery -> Discovery | Weekly 30 min sync | Check outcome metrics after release. Which discovery assumptions held in production? Which new assumptions emerged? Update discovery backlog. | If delivery outcomes are not fed back into discovery, the team runs in circles. At least one discovery metric per released feature should be measured in production. |
What comes out at the end
Two parallel boards with clear lane definitions, discovery backlog with experiment status, delivery backlog with validated stories, learning report repository, definition of ready for transitions, outcome dashboard with production discovery metrics.
Discovery items as experiments with date and learning report link. Delivery as usual. Quarterly outcome review with discovery backlog linked to delivery backlog and outcome metrics.
Compact working template for Dual-Track Agile with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.
Parallel tracks for Product Discovery and Delivery within one team.
When and for what do we use this method?
Which data, observations, decisions, or materials are available?
Short notes along the runsheet.
Owner, date, and success signal.
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
Outcome (Q2-2026): First-week activation rate for new installers increased from 22% to 35%.
Discovery track:
Handoffs in sprint 24:
Delivery track sprint 24:
Outcome status: first-week activation = 27% (measured 14 days post-release from A/B test in sprint 23). +5 points. 8 points remaining to target.
Discovery capacity protection: PM @lisa 50%, designer @anna 50%, engineer @ben 30%. Protected discovery hours in week 20: 78%.
Recognize symptoms and steer against them
Delivery pressure keeps PM and designer permanently in sprint work, delaying discovery experiments.
Book discovery hours per person in calendar. Scrum Master protects actively. If emergency escalation occurs, explicitly communicate that discovery cycle is delayed.
Handoffs arrive without acceptance criteria, and delivery spends time clarifying instead of building.
Enforce definition of ready strictly: acceptance criteria, mockups, edge cases, measurement setup. Stories without DoR stay in discovery and do not enter sprint planning.
Experiments are executed, but no one checks if discovery outcome metric actually increases in production.
Name outcome metric for each validated experiment. Run 2-4 week postrelease tracking. If metric does not rise as expected, return discovery assumption to backlog.
Discovery and delivery items are on one board without separation, and status is unclear.
Keep two lanes or two boards strictly separate. Show transitions as moves from discovery lane to delivery lane. Separate reports.
Discovery experiments are squeezed into sprint slices and qualitative studies get interrupted.
Discovery needs its own cadence. Sprint synchronization only at handoff points. Experiments may span multiple sprints.
Reviews show only delivery output, stakeholders cannot see discovery value and cut capacity.
Show discovery outcomes in reviews. Include learning reports and hypothesis status. Frame discovery capacity protection as strategy investment, not overhead.
Done signals checkable in under a minute
Go to the profile for purpose, similar methods, and sources or continue to the next method in the catalog.