If you have already heard of the discovery phase linked to the software development project completion, now it’s time to deal with this in detail. Follow this article to learn the essential data about this.
Defining the Project Discovery Phase
This phase is a process that involves getting as much info about the future project as possible. What is more, it is aimed at analyzing the market, probable risks, and a lot of other stuff. In other words, the key goal here is to get ready for the project implementation and do this really well.
You shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the project discovery phase. It helps to look at the potential case from all sides and decide what has to be done, and how exactly it will be performed.
Understanding the Importance of the Project Discovery Phase
Here is why the implementation of this phase turns out to be vital:
- It leads to a better user experience;
- Helps to make decisions that will become the reason of more prominent results in the future;
- It increases ROI;
- The project discovery phase is a nice way to make sure that the client and the company that will create software understand each other well;
- It allows saving costs as long as potential errors are going to be reduced as a result of this stage of implementation.
In case the software development company or the business owner who needs certain software neglect the project discovery phase, they can face the following issues:
- Missing the deadlines. It is probably one of the most unpleasant consequences that can show up. The matter is that during the discovery phase, certain time limits and points are set which allows avoiding coming across such a problem;
- The quality of the project that is being developed can suffer significantly. This is connected with the fact that the details and peculiarities were not discussed within the discovery phase;
- Delays in the work of the software development company. The discovery phase helps to establish not only the deadlines but also the key steps of the work that has to be done;
- Increasing the costs. Again, this happens due to the following reasons: when everything is not discussed to the fullest, the necessity to implement some additional stuff can occur later which will result in growing expenses.
As you can see, the project discovery phase is all about major positive aspects the client and the development company will be facing if they decide to include it in the plan of the actions.
What Does the Project Discovery Phase Consist of?
Let’s see what elements of the project discovery phase should be kept in mind before it is performed.
- First of all, it’s essential to gather a proper team of experts for the discovery phase. In most cases, there should be a project manager, UX/UI designer, a technical expert or a developer, and a project analyst. This is what the typical team of the discovery phase is going to comprise. Naturally, you might be facing a bit different staff and it depends on the company to deal with.
- The next vital element of the discovery phase is research. Basically, it is its core. It is going to be logical to divide the research matter into such subcategories as:
- Interview with a client (a customer);
- Market research;
- Analysis of the competitors.
The interview with a client should eliminate all sorts of misunderstandings and lead to productive work. As for the market research, it is necessary for both sides in order to set proper expectations for the product that will be developed soon. And finally, the analysis of the competitors allows you to understand how to make the project better compared with those who work in the same direction.
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Presenting the possible solutions to the client
The agency or a company you are working with may do this using a great variety of forms. However, the presentations are thought to be among the most convenient ones today. Certainly, there should be a discussion taking place as long as a client has the right to express his opinion and propose some of the alterations.
Setting the time and budget necessary for completing the project
In order to present a client with accurate time periods, it is going to be a good idea to divide the project that has to be performed into steps or stages. As for the budget, it has to be as detailed and clear as possible. If the company is not able to do this, a client should ask for an estimate at least. It will give an overall idea of how much the development services are going to cost.
Agreement regarding the further work
At this step, some papers may be signed. The company and a client make a decision to collaborate.
Is It Hard to Find a Nice Team of Software Developers and How Long Can It Take?
Primarily, it depends on how high your expectations are. The better results you want to see, the better team you need to look for. The same can be told about the scale of your future project.
It is vital to check how experienced the team members are. This can be proven by multiple cases they have demonstrated on their website.
Besides, you need to know what to pay attention to when searching for a nice development company. The site matters here. It has to look reliable and suggest valuable data that will help you to realize what to expect from the cooperation with this company.
Also, it never hurts to ask questions to the company’s staff you are interested in working with. This will also contribute to making the right decision about starting to deal with a certain agency.
Hope this article was useful and now you understand why a project discovery phase is important.
