You have a product idea or a business problem that custom software could solve. Now there are a lot of questions.
- Do you need a mobile app or a mobile-responsive web app?
- Have you defined the workflows that the software will automate?
- What are the priorities for your feature set?
- How much is all this going to cost?
At this early stage in a project, the most expensive thing you could do is to start programming. The first step is planning.
Our approach saves time and money
We start most client projects with an extensive Discovery and Documentation (D&D) project. Before we ever write a line of code, we will work with you to understand, at a deep business level, what problem you are trying to solve. Then we’ll identify:
- The best technology stack for your software. Most of our business clients need a robust multi-user database server, with a web based admin dashboard, a web app front-end, and often a cross-platform mobile app.
- The essential feature set and workflows of your application.
- Other vendors that will be involved, such as hosting companies or third-party APIs.
- A fixed-fee budget. We don’t bill by the hour. We know you need a dollar figure to plan with, and we commit to our bid. No surprise overages.
- A phased schedule, with a quick go-live of essential features, followed by incremental new versions to add more features and more value.
We are big believers in the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) philosophy. We don’t want to sell you a huge, sprawling app that will cost a lot of money and take months and months to complete. Instead, we aim to go-live fast with a small project that provides limited but immediate business value. Once you have achieved some ROI, we are ready to work with you over the long haul to keep improving and adding more value to your systems.
What you get in a Discovery and Documentation project
The deliverable in a D&D project is a complete specifications document that lays out a full roadmap for your project. Your D&D report will be business English, written in the language of a project manager, with the minimum necessary technical jargon.
Your D&D report will be so detailed that you will be able to shop it around to other development shops. Any app developer will be able to read our analysis and prepare a quote for you if you want to compare costs. But of course, we hope you’ll choose to stick with us through the development phase also.
The more time you spend planning, the less time and money you’ll spend programming, and the more successful your custom software project will be. Contact us today to start the ball rolling with a Discovery and Documentation project.
