Why Does Your Product Need Discovery Before Development?

“They did not develop our product as required.”

“We invested lots of money in this product, but are not getting the right ROI.”

Many clients regrettably say this when the service provider fails to turn the product of their vision into reality.

There can be multiple reasons for such instances as the followings:

• The client could not convey their requirements as comprehensively as needed.
• The product lacked clarity of vision and proper planning pre-and post-development.
• The product idea was not validated by the client or service provider before development.
• Erroneous visualization of the product led to unprecedented changes in the final product.

So, how do we address all the above mentioned issues?

Web and mobile app development companies are providing discovery service packages that help the clients to take all precautionary decisions before making large investments into the projects.

So, what exactly do discovery service packages include?

Is it worthwhile?

This blog post shall discuss your queries related to the discovery phase. Let us dive in.

What is Discovery Phase?

The Discovery phase is the initial stage of product development that focuses on understanding the primary requirements of the client, market analysis, identification of project goals, and attaining a clear scope of work for the project.

What Challenges Does Discovery Phase Counter?

With time passed, it has become simpler to identify foundational loopholes in the product development process. The Discovery phase has come up as an effective tool for making product development more intuitive, result-oriented, and smooth.

Let us find out the primary challenges that the discovery phase addresses:

• Improper Ideation and Implementation of Business Plans

If you have an interesting business idea that can make it big in the market, you need the right guidance and expertise to ensure a smooth implementation.

Even if you do not have an idea but a keen interest in a particular industry domain, you can turn things around with a discovery services agency that will help create a framework of ideas.

• Open-Ended Scope of Work

You would not want to be unclear about the end results and have an open-ended scope of work. It is always beneficial to be certain about your project goals and plan of implementation.

The Discovery phase can help create a clear, sophisticated, and result-oriented roadmap for product development and deployment.

• Project Complexity

If you have a diverse set of requirements for your product, you may not want to indulge in a complex and unregulated plan of implementation.

During the discovery phase, you can smartly counter all complexities and lead a simplistic development, delivery, and deployment of your product.

Benefits of Discovery Phase

• Make Better Decisions For Your Product

By using discovery services, you get a clear understanding of project goals and plan your roadmap accordingly. With strategic decisions, you can easily launch tailor-made products to the market.

• Defining a Clear Roadmap & MVP

Now that you have a clear plan of implementation and vision, you can make better calls on whether to create an MVP or not.

Also Read | Difference Between Prototype and MVP

• Selection of the Right Technology

The Discovery phase can help you explore and analyze the best possible set of technologies to turn your idea into reality.

• Ensures the Right ROI

Clear plans and vision, a feature-packed technology stack, and validated ideas will ensure adequate ROI for your business.

• Saving Cost & Time

Fewer challenges mean fewer obstacles. And, this is how you can turn your ideas into a successful app by investing in fewer resources.

• Reduce Risk & Failures 

Since you have already discussed your final product’s landscapes, there is the least possibility that you would face any unprecedented loopholes.

Different Stages of Discovery Phase

The Discovery phase focuses on creating a strong pre-development foundation for businesses. It begins with comprehending the project objectives, business goals, and dedicated needs of the targeted audience.

• Identify Business Goals and Customer Needs

In the first process segment of the discovery phase, the service provider focuses on digging out the vision and end-goals. You can also identify the USP of your product in this very segment. You can also identify the values that your product would stand for in the market.

• Ideation and Market Analysis

This segment enables the discovery service provider to identify new ideas and analyze all potential possibilities for the product to succeed in the market. The goal of ideation and market analysis is to help you create a user-centric product.

• Prepare a Functional Scope Document (FSD)

FSD mentions all possible solutions that can be tendered through your product. The document comprises the features and functionalities to be included in the product and how a user would perform their usage in real-time. This document is primarily for finalizing the development methodology and technology stack for your project.

• Wireframing

Once you know the features, functionalities, screens, personalization needs of the product, and more about the user interface and user experiences of the product, the service provider will help you wireframe your product. This approach can play a significant role in visualizing the final version of the product. If you expect any changes in the product, you can let the service provider know about your requirements.

Designers can identify the design elements that they would need to leverage to design your idea into an interactive app.

System Architecture (Optional)

System architecture focuses on shaping the structural behavior of technology components participating in the product development process.

How Much Does It Cost to Avail Discovery Services?

Availing discovery services may cost you additional expenses excluding the primary components in your project budget. The duration of the discovery phase may fall between 2 and 4 weeks.

The cost of validating your idea and exploring the scope of work may cost anywhere between $10,000 to $15,000.

Conclusion

Business leaders are considering discovery services for their new and renewed product ideas.

With increased utilization of discovery solutions, we may soon witness a drop in project failure.

If you have a dynamic business idea but are not sure if you can make it big, we recommend that you consult app discovery experts.