Discovery Stage Service
Discovery Phase of a Software Project
Initiating the discovery phase of a software project with Altamira is a prerequisite to validating and structuring your project ideas, discovering all the unknowns, and mitigating software development risks.
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Decrease the level of uncertainty and minimise risks thanks to discovery stage in software development
What is the purpose of the discovery stage in software development?
Software discovery is a crucial pre-development phase that involves gathering information, conducting holistic research of your business environment, writing documentation, and developing epics and user stories. The discovery phase of a software project results in having a clearly defined project scope ready to be developed.
- Shape your product or solution idea
- Predict accurate development costs
- Minimise or eliminate uncertainty
- Mitigate technology and business-related risks
- Plan the development thoroughly
- Ensure project scalability and maintainability
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What uncertainties discovery phase of project reveals
Solution architecture
Throughout the software discovery process, we clarify, describe, and visualise the functional and non-functional requirements of your solution. We analyse third-party dependencies and make key architectural decisions that serve as the prerequisites for shaping the technical solution.
Scope forming
One of the outputs of the software development discovery phase is a clearly described scope of works, including wireframes of the entire solution, broken down into Epics and User Stories. As a result, we can minimise or decrease the scope uncertainty and commit to budgets and timelines.
Standards and compliances
As your solution might operate in a regulated environment, we help you discover and understand all your legal obligations and their impact on the technical solution. During the discovery stage, we also make sure the solution meets the usual industry standards.
Knowledge management
We set up a strict and clear knowledge management methodology throughout the discovery stage based on our framework. This helps to keep the development organised and never lose important information or forget about taken decision.
The discovery phase in software development minimises uncertainties and makes budgets and timelines predictable and accurate
01 Preparation
02 Ideation
03 Validation and outcomes
We arrange a call to briefly discuss your idea, business objectives, goals, and priorities. Together, we’ll schedule working sessions and think over the discovery plan.
What you get:
- Clear Discovery stage plan and schedule.
- Meetings schedule.
- Roles and responsibilities of stakeholders clearly outlined.
During this stage, we focus on the high-level vision and dive into your business sphere. Collaborating with us, you’ll define your high-level priorities and form a complete project vision.
What you get:
- Project Vision Document.
- Mind diagrams (user flows, business flows, list of solution options, etc.).
Prioritise your solution options and write a high-level project structure. At this stage user flows, wireframes, design concepts, and roadmap are being prepared. We also perform prioritisation validation.
What you get:
- Project specifications
- Wireframes
- Verified project budget and timeline estimation
- Development roadmap
- List of third-party dependencies
- Solution architecture
- Risk assessment and mitigation plan, and many more.
Discovery stage outcomes
01 - Project vision document
Project Vision document will help you to identify your value proposition and target audience, monetisation strategy, and key performance indicators. Describe the main idea behind the project and define objectives and problems that the solution will solve.
02 - Preliminary specifications
The specifications contain a structured and comprehensive backlog. It captures functional and non-functional requirements and information about the tech stack. It is written in the form of epics and separated user stories to better understand the scope and allow proper planning.
03 - Tech vision
It contains information about the tech stack, infrastructure architecture, key risks, the list of all necessary third-party solutions, and verified estimation of your project.
04 - Roadmap
This is a visualised plan of your future project that captures goals (long and short-term), priorities, deliverables, and a list of actions the developer’s team will perform.
05 - Wireframes design concept
Wireframes describing all-important user screens and UX roadmap will help to understand a full picture of how the solution will look and how its elements will communicate.
Strive for excellence with Altamira
Altamira has been awarded numerous times for its performance and achievements. Join our community of successful customers, whom we helped to build and grow their businesses through a software discovery process.
Main advantages of the discovery phase
Optimised development cost
Due to precise project specifications, agreed architecture, and technology stack, you can thoughtfully schedule the development stages, prioritize the tasks, and work more efficiently. This all leads to faster progress and, as a result, lower costs.
Predicted outcome
The Discovery phase allows you to divide your whole big project into small parts called user stories and use cases to describe and confirm how this or that feature is supposed to work. Which, in turn, leads to successful results.
Helpful deliverables
The documentation you receive after the discovery phase can be further used if you consider improving your project in the future, alter it, or somehow changing the concept but sticking with your initial business needs.
When do you need to perform a discovery stage?
- You have no idea of how your solution should come out.
- Your project is too complicated and requires long-term development.
- You have too many stakeholders in your project.
- You lack a clear project roadmap.
- You cannot determine how the project success will be measured.
For startups
Launching a new venture? Our Discovery Phase is the key to turning your bold ideas into a viable product. We focus on defining core functionalities, ensuring market fit, and understanding user needs, all while aligning with your budget. Our holistic approach sets you up for growth, enabling you to invest wisely and scale smartly.
For small and medium-sized businesses
For SMEs aiming to adopt new technologies or expand, our Discovery Phase fine-tunes your vision. We help you navigate the difficulties of market trends and user expectations, ensuring your project not only meets but exceeds industry standards.
For enterprises
Enterprises looking to maintain their competitive edge will find value in our Discovery Phase through its thorough market and technological analysis. We focus on smooth integration and scalability, ensuring new projects improve your existing ecosystem.
Discover why customers choose Altamira
The team was receptive to feedback, adapting resources to ensure effective collaboration.
CTO, SOLJETS
Ryan Crawford
I am absolutely satisfied with how my app looks and functions. It is exactly what I wanted to get when I decided to go with this team.
CEO & Co-founder, Aquiline Drones
Barry Alexander
CTO, Ticker Tocker
Jonathan Kopnic
Their holistic approach was evident in how professionally they integrated our ideas with their expertise, resulting in a product that totally meets our goals.
CEO, Elula
Deveren Fogle
CEO, CTRL Golf
Ian Cash
Head of Services, Universal Edition
Andreas Bintinger
People also asked
The discovery phase of a software project is an initial stage in the development process where the project’s scope, goals, and feasibility are thoroughly evaluated. This discovery phase of software development involves understanding the client’s needs, identifying potential challenges, and establishing clear objectives. It serves as a roadmap for the entire project, ensuring that the team and stakeholders are aligned before moving forward.
During the discovery phase of a project, several key elements should be included:
- Requirement analysis: Detailed gathering of all the project requirements from stakeholders.
- Market research: Understanding the competitive landscape and market needs.
- Feasibility Study: Assessing the viability of the project.
- Resource planning: Estimating the resources (time, budget, workforce) needed for the project.
- Risk assessment: Identifying potential risks and preparing mitigation strategies.
In Agile, the project discovery phase is more dynamic and iterative. It involves the following:
- Collaborative planning to define the project scope and objectives in an adaptable manner.
- User stories and backlog creation that outline the functionality and features of the final product.
- Sprint planning to address different aspects of the project.
- Iterative feedback gathering to regularly review progress and adapt plans.
The discovery software development in Agile projects is important for setting a flexible yet clear direction, accommodating changes and new insights as the project evolves.
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