How The Discovery Phase Contributes To The Project Success

The Discovery Phase is the initial stage of the Software Development Lifecycle, during which critical info about the project scope is documented. Developing software is a mammoth task. There is an overwhelming amount of work to be done, and the overall task may appear insurmountable. The beauty of the discovery phase steps is that it gets you off to a great start by laying the groundwork to start the development process. The discovery phase gets you started on the right foot and makes sure that your journey is a surefire success.

Discovery Phase Steps

When you start working at the discovery phase, you will be required to go through the following discovery phase steps:

• Team Selection
• Setting Business Goals
• Identification of the Key Features
• Wireframe
• Prototyping
• Documentation
• Development

Let’s see these discovery phase steps in detail.

Team Selection:

Having had the project idea, you need to assemble a team as the first step on the Discovery Phase. In the team, you will need the following professionals:

Business analyst

Project manager

UX and UI designers

Software architect

Setting Business Goals:

This part of the discovery phase steps helps you in aligning goals with the product’s features. A business analyst plays a key role and discusses the overall vision. They focus on the following aspects;

• Issue the software will solve
• Contribution to existing solutions
• The distinction of your presented solution and key features
• Target audience

Identification of the Key Features:

In this phase, you document essential features to validate the basic idea. The project manager plays a key role here. Once your target audience and competitors have been identified, the PM documents the product’s features in a prior order. When validating an idea, focus exclusively on critical areas. The PM can assist you in determining which features are absolutely necessary. Each iteration allows you to expand and tweak the features based on users’ feedback. It is critical to distinguish between critical features and those that will be added later.

Wireframe:

It helps in documenting the business logic of the software, and business analysts and project managers play key roles in this phase. It is a simplified representation of the software that depicts the user path and transitions among software elements. User stories are used to create wireframes. They are critical in the design and functionality because they describe how real users will use the software. Wireframes lack visually appealing UI elements, but they include all the essential functions.

Prototyping:

Here, you make a preliminary design concept. A UX or UI designer will employ the wireframes to make a design concept. With prototyping, you can see what the product’s UI will look like when the project is done.

Documentation:

The business analyst and software architect collaborate to make Software Requirements Specifications (SRS). It functions as a guide for all teams involved. The documentation includes a product’s purpose, market niche, competitors’ overview, expectations of the stakeholders, among a few other things.

Development:

This step helps you being the developing process for MVP, and the project managers and software developers are the key players. It also marks the end of the Discovery Phase.

Final Words

With no in-house technology team, business owners are responsible for developing the roadmap. Making a compelling case for discovery phase steps and all the deliverables requires considerable technical expertise. If you are not a technical person, you must hire trained people to take the lead during the Discovery Phase of your project.