Purpose
Engineering discoveries exist so that observations made during real work can become reusable organizational knowledge rather than being lost once the task that produced them is done. A Discovery is the first formal representation of newly acquired engineering knowledge: it precedes architectural decisions, specifications, and implementation.
A Discovery is not yet architecture and not yet a standard. It is an observation, captured and preserved so it can later be evaluated, validated, and — if warranted — formalized.
Principles
- Discoveries originate from evidence, not speculation.
- Discoveries describe observations before prescribing solutions.
- Multiple discoveries may lead to one architectural decision.
- Discoveries remain traceable to the work that produced them.
- Discoveries preserve engineering learning, whether or not they are ultimately formalized.
Discovery Sources
Discoveries may originate from:
- Practical implementation
- Experiments
- Production incidents
- Architecture reviews
- User feedback
- Performance investigations
- Research
Discovery Lifecycle
Observation
↓
Discovery
↓
Validation
↓
Architectural Decision
↓
Specification- Observation — something notable is encountered during engineering work, from any of the sources above.
- Discovery — the observation is captured as a Discovery: recorded, evidence-based, and traceable to its source.
- Validation — the Discovery is examined for reproducibility and general applicability beyond the situation that produced it.
- Architectural Decision — a validated Discovery may lead to an architectural decision that evaluates and responds to it.
- Specification — an accepted architectural decision may in turn be formalized into a specification.
Discovery Criteria
A Discovery should:
- Be evidence-based.
- Be reproducible.
- Be generally applicable.
- Be independent of tooling whenever possible.
Outputs
- Candidate architectural decisions.
- Candidate specifications.
- Engineering insights.
- Organizational learning.
Governance
- Discoveries are not automatically architecture.
- Discoveries do not change specifications directly.
- Architectural decisions evaluate discoveries; a Discovery does not carry authority on its own.
- Specifications formalize approved discoveries, not raw observations.
Future Evolution
Discovery management may evolve — for example, in how discoveries are recorded, validated, or connected to downstream decisions — while preserving evidence-first engineering as its foundation.