Digital projects that entail custom software execution – that is, the design and build of complex web applications and mobile apps – can bring huge value to a business or organization. But with big reward comes big risk. That’s why we offer a comprehensive Discovery Phase to our clients who come in with their next digital project on their plate.
Discovery is a multi-step offering that is designed to figure out exactly what your project needs to deliver value. It helps us avoid building costly, high-effort features into your product that don’t bring much value to your organization; conversely, it helps us discover the features that bring real ROI to your product.
Today, 90% of our custom product development projects involve a Discovery Phase – even for clients who come back to us for new projects. Actually, our Discovery process is so proven that we wrote a whole book about it. The Discovery Phase is a smaller, quicker engagement that gets us centred and on the right path, and dictates features, cost and timeline for the following Design & Build phase. It’s best when there is a clear direction for the project or product, and we need to unpack the details. If your vision is less defined – and you’re more aware that you have a problem, but aren’t clear or confident on the solution – then a higher-level technology consulting engagement is likely a better fit.
Our Discovery Audit is tailored to the project itself, but follows the same general objective: capture and define in detail what could, should, and must be built, alongside the costs, risks, and delivery plan.
We often liken our application discovery service to creating the blueprint for a house – we want to understand not just that we’re building a split-level or bungalow, but rather the size of each room, the specs of the insulation, the appliances and their locations, and all of those types of details. Translating this to software, the digital discovery phase encompasses:
The Application Discovery Phase is primarily a consultative phase – comprised of the steps outlined above – with a few critical deliverables that capture all the knowledge gleaned in the process.
Just like a blueprint for a home, the collection of digital discovery phase outputs – workflow maps, technical requirements, entity relationship diagrams, interview recordings / notes, prototypes, and implementation plans – paint a very clear picture of what will actually be built in the subsequent phase. Expectations are clear, assumptions are removed, and your risks are mitigated.
You and your project’s invested parties are involved throughout the application discovery process as well, as subject matter experts. Bi-weekly progress review meetings ensure transparency with your project team, and multiple opportunities to course correct on the way to a successful phase completion.
On Discovery completion, we provide up to 3 options for how to continue the work in Phase 2: Design & Build – and over 90% of our Discovery projects turn into Design & Build projects. At the end of the Discovery phase, however, you own all the artifacts and proceed in whatever manner you wish.
In 2012, the University of Oxford conducted a study based on over 5,000 IT projects. They found that, 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.” The reasons these projects fail is due to a lack of proper Discovery up front. We’ve engineered our process to reduce the chance of failure, and drive up your odds for success.
Services can include:
Interested? Fill out the form below, or email sales@paper-leaf.com and let’s get started!
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