Project Discovery Phase – a necessity or donkey work?

Hi!

During my work with clients, especially SMB ones, I often hear the same question over and over again. "What is discovery phase? Could we skip it?"

The answer is "Yes, of course". But let me explain why skipping it is a bad idea 🙂

It allows not to waste the budget and get specific requirement for your project. Extremely helpful if:

New-market Opportunities

If you’re exploring the market looking for a niche to expand your business, the discovery phase will come in handy. It’ll help to decide whether you should seize the opportunity and enter the market. At this point, the phase might include researching a new audience and competitive analysis.

Lack of Clarity

When there is no complete idea of the final product, no deep understanding of end-users needs, and business objectives are elusive, skipping the discovery phase leads to failure.

Regulated Environment or New Regulations

If you’re going to launch a software project in a strictly regulated environment, the discovery phase is a must as it helps to predict and manage risks.

New Company’s Strategy

In case of a pivot, the discovery phase would help to explore overall needs and processes across the company, highlight areas for optimization and improvement, and come up with the perfect software solution plan that would serve the company’s new purposes.

Acquisitions or Mergers

When it comes to systems and tools consolidation, the discovery phase facilitates identifying common needs across multiple products. It helps to find a common solution and consolidate products in the best way.

Unknown Unknowns

These are risks that come from unexpected situations which are too improbable to be considered, but ignoring these risks can be a costly failure. When there are many unknown unknowns, the discovery phase minimizes their negative impact on the future product and allows to either avoid or eliminate numerous business risks.

For full article about the discovery phase head here.