The life path of each project at the initial stage must go through the Discovery phase and only then move on to the Delivery phase. As part of the Discovery phase, the development company forms an idea about the new product and creates specialized artifacts.
As part of the discovery phase, it is necessary to focus on the following development nuances:
- Domain research and technical requirements collection;
- A detailed study of the customer’s business processes;
- Customer expectations from the released product;
- Bottlenecks of the development;
- Solutions to customer problems are formulated at a high level of management;
- A sequential list of top development priorities creating;
- Project roadmap creating.
The phase duration in most development projects is 1-2 weeks. If the work boils over a complex, multifunctional application, then the phase duration can reach a month.
Discovery phase main stages
During the phase, a number of documents are created that are extremely important for the exact assessment of all requirements for the future product, as well as to draw up a detailed card of expectations of the client and users:
- Lean Model Canvas. A detailed concept art is created, describing all business processes that make up the project management of the project. All details should be taken into account – the expected level of proposal, infrastructure, consumer expectations and financial aspects of future work on the application or website;
- Customer Journey Map. Managers create detailed maps of the client’s commentating with the product. A visual schedule of interaction should include all points of the jamming of the functionality of the product and the user. It is advisable to visualize the experience of the client, taking into account his thoughts and the experience of using similar applications. Consider the motivation and purpose of using the product;
- User Flow. To determine how exactly the user interacts with the product, a map of the Field is created. From the first click to the ultimate goal – infographics are created in the form of interconnected screens to visualize the user’s movement under the option of an application or website;
- User Stories. This section should describe in detail the functionality of the product as the user sees it. Thanks to the User Stories, a detailed “external” impression of the product on behalf of the user is created and it becomes clear what estimates to expect from users after the release of the application or website;
- Product Vision. This document is necessary for managers – here will be described the general goals and potential of the project, prospects in the future;
- Nonfunctional requirements. Here, all technical aspects of the project are described here – the requirements for the equipment and qualifications of personnel, necessary for the development of technology, architecture and the expected load on the server-client part.
Discovery phase main advantages
A preliminary analysis of the project information should help all participants in the development create a useful and functional product. A detailed description of all development stages provides the following advantages to the team:
- Clarification of the main idea and the essence of the project, so it becomes clearly clear why the product is created and what goals are facing the development of the developers;
- Identification of all project details that could remain out of attention of the project team during the initial discussion of the technical specifications of the project;
- Drawing up a complete picture of the user’s expectations from the product – a study of similar competitors’ projects is carried out, which provides comprehensive information about the result of the project release;
- The ability to get an expert assessment of the project and the main methods of working on it, consideration of alternative methods for solving possible problems;
- Drawing up a list of a story user for the project, which is very important in terms of view of development from the outside;
- Prevention of the need to make expensive edits at the final stages of work on the project – thanks to a thorough analysis of information, a transparent picture of technical requirements is created, which should be fulfilled in order to avoid the appearance of bugs or functional instability of the product;
- Establishing a balance between business centers-developers (customer) of the project and consumer needs;
- Thanks to the full financial picture, the startup teams that do not have constant finance are more likely to find an investor for the project.