DISCOVERY PHASE

Every project is different but they all start with our Discovery Phase. It involves a full process of event storming, user stories and wireframing, and allows us to get your project prepped ahead of full development.

This is a vital part of our development process, ensuring everyone on both sides of the project has a clear idea of the goals and aims of the project, while creating a detailed roadmap of how to move forward onto next steps.

This eye-opening process isn’t just for us, though; it’s about helping you gain full clarity of what you’re trying to achieve and how it could work, improving communication between your own team about the needs of the project and what success could look like.

Most importantly, however, it’s about eliminating risks and delays before they arise, to ensure the process remains cost-effective and pain-free for everyone involved.

In the final stages of the Discovery Phase, we can focus on helping you develop a proof of concept, making sure what is proposed is possible to bring to life. Essentially, it’s about making sure the project aims can be practically achieved with the technology and skills available, before moving into full development.

It means we take the idea and test it against feasibility, risks, resource planning and stakeholder buy-in before any further investment takes place. This allows us to solve user problems and identify any risks that were not included in assumptions in the early stages of planning.

This proof of concept can then be further supported and expanded with a wireframe or software prototype (or visual Click-Through), building increased confidence in the project before we hit the ground running with further project development.

You can think of a wireframe as a simplistic representation of a screen layout, often just outlines and blocks, that captures the content needed (but not in detail), functionality and navigation for the user journey. It’s about pulling those great ideas into a tangible format, that gets everything out of our heads and onto a screen – ready to be questioned and discussed. 

This stage also allows us to build confidence across the team by demonstrating a clear vision and understanding of the users’ needs. It’s also an opportunity to hone and polish fundamentals before full development gets underway. 

For more expansive Discovery Phase approaches, this can also lead to an interactive prototype (or visual Click-Through) that allows you to assess how it feels to use the software for the first time, such as a simplistic app that demos a sought-after feature or experience (also known as a software prototype).

Not everyone needs a software prototype at this stage in their journey – but, if you’re looking to build team buy-in from senior staff or, for example, to gain improved chances for funding, a software prototype (such as a simplistic app that demos a sought-after feature or experience) can be a massive help.

The decision to create a software prototype will be fleshed out during the Discovery Phase sessions, as the exact needs of the project are collaboratively agreed on by teams on both sides.

For some businesses, a software prototype is an ideal way to test, evaluate and validate the idea with both users and internal team members, ensuring you can move forward with the confidence that you are building the right product and features before moving into full development.

The wonderful thing about undergoing our Discovery Phase journey is that you have no obligation to work with us further if you decide to pause the project or work with a different development team (it might even be your own development team!).

The Discovery Phase helps us create a blueprint for your project that you can take with you at the end, so, you know that, even if you decide not to work with Buzz, you have a tangible project plan to move forward with.

While we pride ourselves on bringing most of our Discovery Phase clients’ projects to life (just check out our case studies), we understand that, whether for budget or chemistry reasons, some businesses may decide to go in another direction.

The most important thing for us is that our Discovery Phase gives you real value and a solid idea of how to move forward with your bespoke software project, whatever direction you decide to take.