Build your next award-winning site or mobile app a little more easily this time.
The Guide to Digital Project Discovery is a free modern and comprehensive toolkit that includes an ebook with 9 chapters, and 7 companion tools to help guide you to success. It's designed for marketing managers, product managers, and those generally in charge of a digital project, aiming to help you plan and deliver large website, web app, and mobile app projects.
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On average, large IT projects run 45% over budget and 7% over time while delivering 56% less value than predicted. Software projects run the highest risk of cost and schedule overruns.
Yep, that's what the University of Oxford found when they conducted a study based on over 5,000 IT projects. That’s a little scary. Don’t worry though – you can avoid this.
There’s a proven process to help avoid that situation; a repeatable model for the Discovery Phase of digital projects we’ve used at Paper Leaf – our award-winning digital agency – to help successfully define, scope, build, and launch countless digital client projects totalling in the millions of dollars. And we’ve published that model here, for you, along with numerous tools like printable flashcards, user persona templates, information architecture workbooks, and much more.
eBook
Included in your free download is a 79-page, professionally written and designed eBook. Inside are 9 chapters containing everything we do for the Discovery Phase of large digital projects, honed over the 10 years we've been in business. The learnings you glean from this book will give you skills beyond your years.
7 Companion Tools
Along with the eBook, you'll get 7 companion tools designed to help you quickly put the skills you learned from the eBook into practice. The tools include templates for project briefs and user personas; user story flashcards; a user story / acceptance criteria spreadsheet; printable UI sketch sheets; and more.9 Chapters, 7 Tools, Countless Successful Digital Projects
That's what you can expect if you read and apply the learnings from the Digital Guide to Project Discovery. Here's the outline of the chapters, and what you can expect to learn:
01
How to Write an Effective Digital Project Brief
Learn why project briefs can’t be neglected, what content the most effective project briefs include and how to get that content. Then, use the free digital project brief template to get started.
02
Researching & Writing User Personas
Learn how user personas build on the project brief, why user personas are essential to project success, and how to uncover information about your users and translate them into user personas. Then, use the free user personas template to get started.
03
Understanding & Creating User Stories
Learn how to unpack user-centered requirements for your project following a simple workshop. To ensure you follow the right format, use the free user stories flashcard template, print off your own, and save some cash.
04
How to Prioritize User Stories & Build the Right Features
Prioritizing user stories ensures your project stays on budget while delivering the highest-value, mission-critical items. Learn how to prioritize user stories and then digitize them using the free digital user story workbook.
05
Completing User Stories with Acceptance Criteria
User stories aren’t complete until we understand the criteria used to evaluate them. Learn how to uncover and author acceptance criteria for your project’s user stories – criteria that ensures the right features are built, and are able to be evaluated against clear specifications.
06
Why Discovery Audits Matter & How to Do Them
Learn how to run a Discovery Audit on your existing product and processes to make sure you build on what’s working and avoid repeating past mistakes. Use the accompanying free Discovery Audit Workbook to execute yours efficiently and effectively.
07
How to Properly Execute Information Architecture & User Journeys
Learn how to take your work so far and use it to plan out the architecture for your new site or app. Then, learn how to map out how your users will navigate through the information, ultimately creating an initial user experience blueprint of sorts. Cap it off by using the free information architecture template to get started on yours.
08
Methods, Tips & Tricks for Effective Prototyping
Learn about the different kinds of prototypes, when to use each, and how to start with pencil and paper to quickly test layouts against user stories and uncover further requirements. You can sketch out these prototypes on the free, printable UI sketching templates, which include mobile, tablet, and desktop views. Nice!
09
Post-Discovery: What Happens Now?
Well, you've done everything. You understand your users, goals, project, and requirements inside out and backwards. What happens next?
In this final chapter, you'll learn how to take everything you've done so far and move into the accompanying Design & Build phase with confidence.
