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Project Discovery Phase in Custom Software Development
Saving money, building a better user experience, identifying risk, and learning more about the niche. All these can come out of the software product discovery phase. This “step 0” will not take a lot of your time and budget, but its results will become a foundation for every next step as you move further in the development process.
What is discovery phase in software development?
Software development discovery phase is a substantial research work that is done prior to any significant design and development. During the discovery phase, stakeholders, investors, and business owners define the scope of work, expected deadlines, the main goal of a project, and the target audience.
Why opt for the discovery phase?
To build a product validated by the market.
To design a perfect user experience.
To set clear goals and deadlines.
To provide your team with market context.
To get a detailed project estimate and scope.
Without the software discovery phase:
You will get a product that nobody needs.
Your budget will be wrong.
You will not meet the deadlines.
Your team will feel lost.
You need the discovery phase of a project if:
You are a newly-born startup with a great idea in mind
A project discovery phase will allow you to clearly define your business goals, set realistic expectations about your future product, and create the first wireframes and prototypes. They will play a significant role during your negotiations with investors.
You are a functioning business researching new opportunities
You have a new product initiative within a business ecosystem
You need an overhaul of an existing product
Benefits of discovery phase in software projects
The discovery phase of product development has several major benefits that will boost the chances of your solution succeeding in the market.
Reducing the risks
A discovery phase will provide you and your team with the necessary data to decide whether to continue the development. You will know about possible risks and be prepared for them.
User validation
When you have a clickable prototype on your hands, you may not only just show it to stakeholders or investors, but also to beta-test groups of your target audience to receive real user feedback.
Cost reduction
The discovery phase in software development is not costly compared to the full-scale process, so if you decide that the idea is not worth the game, your final expenses will be minimal.
Transparent goals
A discovery phase will give your team a clear understanding of the project. They will know why each feature is needed and what user pain point it solves.
Who is involved in the discovery phase of a project?
The discovery phase of a software development project requires the following project team:
Discovery phase of a software development project: How do we work
A discovery phase of a project is a well-structured process. The structure helps you and your team clearly see what you should do and why you should do it.
Stages of the discovery phase
What our software discovery process looks like:
Discovery phase of a project: Deliverables with Yellow
When the discovery services for software development are finished, you will receive the following project discovery phase deliverables to move on with your idea:
Mind map
A diagram showing the general structure and high-level pages/features of the future product
You need this to:
Get a general idea of the project in a short time
Define the scope of potential tasks
Understand the project’s structure for building its architecture
Notice and fix the logical gaps and loops early on
User stories descriptions
A set of the product’s feature lists based on user roles.
You need this to:
Prioritize the features necessary for MVP
Save development time and budget
Buyer personas descriptions
A generalized representation of a potential future user. It includes a demographic description, potential interests, fears, and pain points that the product will solve.
You need this to:
Understand how to make the product as simple and easy to use as possible
Concentrate on the value for the end user
Competitive analysis report
Comparative analysis of existing or potential competitors on the market.
You need this to:
Understand if your target audience needs your offer
Recognize strengths and weaknesses of competitors
Identify key best practices in order to "not reinvent the wheel"
Gain an advantage over competitors based on their weaknesses
Technical solution proposal
Description of the most suitable technical (technologies and tools) with functionality description.
You need this to:
Get a specific development plan
Estimate timelines and budgets based on the prototype and completed research
A clickable prototype
Interactive black and white prototype of the future product.
You need this to:
Take a peek at what your final product can look like
Save time and money by identifying major pitfalls before the full-scale development starts
Test the idea of a future product on potential users
Present your project to investors
Here is the result of a discovery phase for one of the projects we worked on—a mobile banking app prototype. You can click through it right here!
Choose what your project needs: Pricing plans for discovery phase at Yellow
At Yellow, the discovery phase service for a software project has two pricing teplans for you to choose from.
From you:
Introductory data based on the brief
Feedback on intermediate results of prototyping and user stories
Team:
Project Manager
Business Analyst
Designer
Lead of UX/UI
Software Architect
Software Engineers
From us:
Two calls to collect requirements
Analysis of incoming data (up to 8 hours)
Creation of user stories
Gathering feedback from Yellow's internal team
Up to three rounds of client review
Creation of a clickable prototype (desktop or mobile)
You get:
A clickable prototype (10 main screens)
User stories descriptions
$1,900
From you:
Introductory data based on the brief
Feedback on intermediate results of prototyping and user stories
Team:
Project Manager
Business Analyst
Designer
Lead of UX/UI
Software Architect
Software Engineers
From us:
Three calls to collect requirements
In-depth analysis of the customer's brief, domain, and market
Competitive analysis
Creation of User stories and Buyer Personas
Creation of Technical solution
Mind Map building
Gathering feedback from the internal team.
Up to five rounds of client review
Collection and analysis of feedback from potential users of the product
Creation of a clickable prototype (desktop or mobile)
You get:
A clickable prototype (25 main screens)
User stories descriptions
Buyer personas descriptions
Competitive analysis report
Technical solution proposal
$7,900
Why choose the discovery phase by Yellow?
Business-first approach
Coding and design are just parts of software product development. We value business needs first and direct all our work to addressing them, not just writing code and drawing lines.
Product lab
We create our own projects from scratch, starting with the discovery phase, so we know the peculiarities of the software product lifecycle and apply this experience to your project.
Security
Before any work starts, we sign a non-disclosure agreement, so all your data is legally protected. We also use the best security practices to make sure you are safe with us.
Experienced communications
Yellow has been developing mobile and web solutions since 2015 and has already successfully finished 100+ software solutions in various industries, from communication to fintech.
Discovery phase of a software project: Yellow case studies
What people say
The new features have been well received by users. Attentive and flexible, the team excelled at responding to stakeholders in a timely matter. Their technical expertise allows them to propose valuable solutions.
Engaged, supportive, and invested in project success, the team offered constructive criticism, creative guidance, and honest communication. Their user-centered approach resulted in a unique and reliable product that operates well on all systems.
Because of marketing costs, the B2C application fell out of use in favor of a different B2B tool. Yellow was very focused on customer satisfaction, and they participated regularly in standups. They helped solidify features, and they thoroughly explained their process.
We’re impressed with their loyalty and honesty. They were able to stay true to their original quote even though we needed to change and add a few requirements. They’ve done a lot of good work for us on all fronts, but it's amazing to see that they’re able to stick to what they initially promised.
Mainly, I go by client feedback to judge Yellow’s performance, and the clients have been very impressed with their work. The team is exact in what they do, their delivery has been good, and they’re on time and budget.
Their performance was good. I didn’t expect that kind of performance from someone working offsite. I was happy that they completed the project ahead of schedule, so we had some time left to work on additional projects and improvements.
When Yellow is working on a task, they understand how it will impact the product down the line. The team has provided great insight into our processes, making sure we don’t make small mistakes that will impact us in a larger way in the future.
They were very accessible regardless of the time difference as well as communication was good. We had a couple bumps here and there regarding designs that were not originally discussed in our UX/UI designs but they were quick to find solutions as well as any needed changes we requested.
Yellow’s achievements
Best Website Design Agencies in San Francisco list by DesignRush
Read moreTop 1000 Global Service Providers for 2020 list by Clutch
Read moreTop 100+ Software Development Companies in 2022 list by Techreviewer
Read moreTop 1000 Service Providers for 2021 list by Clutch
Read moreTwilio Partner for 5 years
Read moreAnswering questions
How can the research and discovery phase benefit my business?
What are the discovery phase steps?
How much does the discovery phase service for software development cost?
Why Yellow?
Want to start? Download the brief
Fill it in and come back to us. We will discuss your idea in more detail and start the discovery!