Running discovery
Preparing, asking the right questions, walking the site and capturing requirements for physical security projects.
🎯 Learning objectives
- Prepare for a discovery meeting
- Ask layered questions that uncover impact and constraints
- Run a productive site walk
- Capture requirements in a reusable format
Before the meeting
- Research the organisation: industry, sites, recent news, regulations that apply (e.g. healthcare, education, federal funding → NDAA Section 889).
- Agree with the account manager on the meeting objective, roles and the next step you want.
- Ask who will attend. Try to include security operations, IT/network, facilities and, ideally, the budget owner.
- Prepare a short agenda and send it in advance.
Question bank
Work from situation to problem to impact to vision. Ask open questions, then listen more than you talk.
| Layer | Example questions |
|---|---|
| Situation | What do you have today for access control and video? How many sites, doors, cameras? Who operates it and when? What's the network like? |
| Trigger | What prompted this project now? Was there an incident, an audit finding, an expansion, an end-of-life system? |
| Problem | Walk me through the last time you investigated an incident. Where did it slow down? What do operators complain about? |
| Impact | How long does an investigation take today? How many false alarms per week? What did the last incident cost (time, liability, reputation)? |
| Requirements | What must we be able to see at each area? Retention? Integration with HR, AD/Entra, fire alarm, intercom, visitor management? |
| Constraints | Budget range and cycle? Timeline? Approved vendor or procurement rules? IT security requirements? Union or privacy constraints? |
| Decision | Who else is involved in the decision? How will you evaluate options? What would make this project a success in a year? |
The site walk
- Follow the personWalk the path of an employee, a visitor and a delivery driver. Note where they enter, wait and badge.
- Check every doorDoor type, frame, existing hardware, fire rating, egress direction, power and cable paths. Photograph and number each one.
- Check camera positionsMounting heights, light (sun, backlight at entrances), obstructions, what must be seen at each location.
- Check closets and networkIDF/MDF locations, cable distances (100 m limit), switch models and PoE budgets, rack space, UPS.
- Ask the operatorsSpend time in the security office: what they watch, how they search video, what frustrates them.
Capture and confirm
Within 24 hours, send a short summary: what you heard (problems and impact in their words), requirements, constraints, open questions and proposed next steps. Ask them to correct it. This one email builds more credibility than any slide deck and becomes the basis of your design.
Template
Problem → Impact → Requirement → Constraint → Success measure. One row per area or use case.
Common mistakes
- Pitching the product in the first 10 minutes.
- Only talking to the security manager and missing IT, facilities or the budget owner.
- Skipping the site walk and designing from a floor plan.
- Not quantifying impact, so the proposal has no business case.
- No written summary, so requirements drift.
Check your understanding
1.What should you send within 24 hours after discovery?
A written summary: problems and impact in the customer's words, requirements, constraints, open questions and next steps, asking them to correct it.
2.Name three things to check at each door on a site walk.
Door/frame type and existing hardware, fire rating and egress direction, power and cable paths, reader and lock positions, camera view of the door.
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