Approximately one-third of software development projects significantly overrun their budget, miss their deadlines, or completely collapse. The causes of these failures range from overambitious expectations and miscalculated costs to inadequate planning and handling of requirements. Here are just some of the issues that can come from not having a thorough project plan:
- You run into scope creep where you realize there are features that weren’t identified
- You end up paying more than you expected or are grossly overcharged
- You don’t get charged more, but your delivery timeline or quality is impacted (shortcuts are taken to deliver, and less experienced engineers that have availability are put on the job)
- You don’t get charged more, but the relationship with the developers is soured and you need to find a new team (which introduces new costs for switching over)
To avoid these risks and create a solid project plan that all parties can rely on, it’s best to start with a discovery phase.
What is a discovery phase in software development?
The discovery phase in software product development is essentially the initial preparatory stage of the project. It’s during this phase that foundational work is carried out – this can include analyzing the market and competitors, understanding the target audience, gathering insights and best practices from the industry, and investigating technologies and business opportunities that may be pertinent to the project.
In this phase, requirements are gathered and prioritized. Crucially, a roadmap is developed, outlining the journey of how the system will progress from its conceptualization to its launch.
Who takes part in the discovery phase?
The discovery phase can involve any of the following groups of people:
- Stakeholders and Domain Experts
- Lead designers and UX experts
- Tech leads, Senior Developers, Architects & CTOs
- Business Analysts and Project Managers
What are the benefits of a discovery phase?
Collecting accurate requirements is crucial in controlling both the cost and delivery time of project. It ensures that your product meets the market needs and is delivered within budget and on schedule. This setup allows all those potentially involved to discuss the project from business, user experience, and engineering perspectives, ensuring every requirement, no matter how minor, is captured and organized in a project management system for estimation and execution.
When developing software in niche areas, pinpointing a competitive edge is crucial. This involves analyzing the market and competitors to offer superior value. A Discovery project can entail in-depth research to identify competitors’ weaknesses, market gaps, and unmet user needs, enabling the formulation of a unique value proposition and a market-oriented strategy.
Once completed a discovery phase will produce the following
- Transcripts and recorded meetings where the teams have discussed requirements in detail
- A set of 10 product milestones within your project management system, using memorable names. This helps in visualizing the development journey from MVP to a fully marketable product.
- A set of user stories, to capture the journey of the user for each task, which will inform the project roadmap
- A project roadmap, broken up into small tasks, that will form the basis of the daily software development goals. (See example image below).
Do you need a discovery phase for your project?
So how do you know if you need to embark on a discovery for your project? The discovery phase in custom software development is becoming an industry standard. It is essential if you are building a new digital product from zero, planning to upgrade a legacy system or start a grand digital transformation project, or simply have an idea and need to know how to move ahead with it.
However, it does not mean that every single software project should start with a Discovery. If you are somewhat in the middle, have an approved UX and UI design and come to a new vendor to develop a system for you, you won’t need to roll back to Discovery. If you have a well-structured strategy and know your scope, you can also skip the Discovery.
Either way, if you are looking for advice from an experienced team of developers, please get in touch to discuss your needs and find the best course of action for your project.