Discovery:
Let’s start with an analogy to better understand what goes into having a custom software solution developed.
Imagine you are having a custom home made for you and your family. There are 100s of decisions to be made, from the location to build on to the final decoration completing the home. Meetings, designs, and redesigns must be had to ensure the exact home you want, with the precise layout, interior design, and a stable & long-lasting structure.
Changes can be made through the planning and construction of the home, but they all take time and more material to be done. For example, repainting a wall is easy, moving a non-load-bearing fence isn’t too hard, and deciding you want a different floor after the floor has been laid takes a ton of time and material. Additionally, the progression of the home will be delayed because other parts of the home rely on the floor being done to complete those tasks.
Now imagine asking for a functional kitchen or bathroom to be moved to another part of the home. Moving it will take a ton of time, material, and reworking of the entire house. We can continue with examples, but you should understand how much a change takes.
So Back To The Beginning: What Is Discovery?
Discovery in software development collects the exact requirements for an application to be developed.
This entails, most importantly, the business requirements, then every step a user will have through their experience from the login to completion of using the app, the design of the complete application, and developing of written out Business Requirement Document(BRD). The BRD can be considered the entire plan; it stands alongside the contract as the agreement that what the BRD states will be developed.
Why Do I Need It?
To not have to deal with this pesky word, CHANGE CONTROL. What is change control, you ask? It is having anything in the application changed; it takes more time to make the change, and when being charged hourly, you are paying more.
Sometimes, as in the analogy above, it’s as simple as repainting a wall or moving a non-load-bearing wall, an hour here or there, that isn’t substantial enough for you to pay more to have it fixed. But what if you want to change how a process operates? That is like moving the bathroom or kitchen to another part of the home and having to relay all the pipes and plumbing.
By having discovery, we can take the time to think in detail and work out all the steps in the process that the application will do. Many times when a complete discovery is skipped, we see when the operational staff begins interacting with the application, they always have changes that need to be made that the Business Leader overlooked. Discovery allows us to hinder the chance of that happening.
Will It Save Me Time And Money?
Yes. Yes. Did I say Yes? It’s surprising how much money and time will be saved by having discovery. The 10 to 30 hours of discovery and design time that we have. This will, in turn, allow for many discussions to be had. As well as problems to be considered rather than making a quick decision.
We can make tons of changes at this point. Everything has yet to develop, causing no additional time or materials. Even if you have a tight deadline, the extra time to take for discovery will help you hit that deadline. With the new information, you can also adjust it.
Why Do We Recommend It?
We want to save you money! SHOCKING RIGHT?!? No, it is not surprising. Our business has grown year over year with the continual support of our clients referring us business! Sure, any change you want in your software, we can make that happen. However, it would help if you didn’t have to pay twice, especially when it’s something we could have discussed and solved before developing.
Discovery is there to protect you, ensuring you will get precisely what you want; it will help you keep from making additional changes and allow the development team to have the best possible understanding of everything that needs to happen!
So, when in doubt, have DISCOVERY!
For more information, check out these posts:
Jason Senter
Executive Director of Sales & Product ManagementAfter finding my footing in the world of technology, I joined Grata Software. I focus on identifying opportunities within your business where technology or processes are lacking, and how we can improve them. When I'm not playing sports or in the kitchen cooking, you can find me here at Grata Software, as the Head of Sales and Product Manager.
