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Summary – To avoid cost overruns and delays, align scope, business objectives, UX and tech upfront. In 1–6 weeks, discovery leverages interviews, benchmarking, MVP prioritization, Vision & Scope, wireframes, macro-architecture, tech stack, WBS and estimates for a precise roadmap and managed budget. This approach reduces scope creep and rework, and validates technical feasibility against business needs. Solution: structure each step to start fast, with no surprises and with agility.
Before launching a digital project, the discovery phase is the essential architectural blueprint to align objectives, scope, UX and technology. Over 1 to 6 weeks depending on scale, this stage relies on interviews, market analysis, feature prioritization (MVP followed by subsequent releases), development of the Vision & Scope and wireframes, selection of an architecture and stack, and culminates in the creation of a detailed WBS along with cost and timeline estimates.
This process delivers a precise roadmap, a controlled budget and a preliminary evaluation of the service provider. The outcome: a faster, more predictable and measurable start, free of financial surprises and delays. This rigor reduces scope creep and development rework, and ensures technical feasibility is aligned with business needs.
Alignment of Objectives and Scope
Aligning business objectives and project scope from the outset ensures a clear, shared vision. This initial step helps mitigate the risk of scope creep and guarantees development that meets expectations.
Stakeholder Interviews and Analysis
The first phase involves meeting with decision-makers, key users and technical stakeholders. These interviews gather strategic goals and operational constraints from each department and uncover implicit expectations that could impact project scope.
Beyond business needs, existing processes and external dependencies are examined. This granular analysis maps information flows and highlights friction points. It also serves to document non-functional requirements such as security, performance and regulatory compliance.
The deliverable from this stage is a structured summary of expectations by role and priority. It becomes the common reference for all stakeholders, minimizing future misunderstandings and laying a solid foundation for the next phases.
Market Research and Benchmarking
Market research positions your project within its competitive and technological landscape. Experience feedback is collected, leaders and emerging innovations are identified, and this intelligence provides a strategic view of the digital environment.
The benchmark compares existing solutions’ features, strengths and weaknesses. It assesses the relevance of each option for your business objectives, guiding UX choices and setting design reference points.
Deliverables include a concise market trends report and a comparison matrix of offerings. These elements support investment decisions and align executive leadership around identified opportunities or threats.
Defining the Vision & Scope
The formalized Vision & Scope outlines the project’s overall ambition and its boundaries. The vision describes long-term goals, key performance indicators (KPIs) and expected benefits. The scope specifies what will be included or excluded in the initial phase.
Modules, interfaces and priority integrations are defined. This conceptual roadmap frames the functional and technical architecture, serving as reference for any later adjustments and ensuring consistency across deliverables.
For example, a public institution conducted a discovery phase to redesign its citizen portal. The Vision & Scope identified only three critical modules for the initial phase. This focus prevented a 40% scope expansion, contained costs and ensured on-time delivery.
Prioritization and Functional Design
Prioritizing critical features for the MVP enables rapid delivery of a testable product. Designing wireframes and planning subsequent releases creates a precise roadmap.
Feature Identification and Prioritization
This step involves listing all possible features and ranking them by business value. Each item is evaluated for its impact on the end user and its potential return on investment. A scoring method facilitates dialogue between business and technical teams.
High-impact features are isolated for the MVP, while others are assigned to later versions. This agile approach protects resources, ensures a speedy launch, limits scope creep and fosters structured iterations. The MVP focus accelerates validation and reduces risk.
For instance, a financial cooperative used this method for its mobile app. The analysis showed that three functions were sufficient to test internal adoption. Prioritization halved time-to-market, demonstrating the MVP’s effectiveness in a regulated context.
Wireframe and Prototype Development
The wireframes visually map the user journey and expected ergonomics. They establish screen structures before any graphic design choices. This iterative approach enables quick feedback and ensures consistent UX from the discovery phase onward.
The interactive prototype simulates navigation and validates critical flows. It allows stakeholders to test real-world scenarios without writing code. Adjustments at the prototype stage are far less costly than during development.
Associated documentation lists functional and technical elements by screen. It serves as a guide for designers, developers and testers, reducing misunderstandings and ensuring a smooth transition to development.
Release Plan and Roadmap
The release plan organizes future iterations based on priorities and technical dependencies. It establishes a realistic timeline for each module, taking into account the company’s strategic milestones. This long-term vision encourages resource preparation.
The roadmap incorporates testing, validation and deployment phases. It also specifies training and onboarding periods. This level of detail enables better anticipation of workloads and coordination between internal teams and external providers.
The final roadmap is shared at the steering committee. It acts as a trust-based agreement with executive leadership. Regular monitoring ensures continuous visibility on progress and any critical issues.
Edana: strategic digital partner in Switzerland
We support companies and organizations in their digital transformation
Technical Architecture and Stack Selection
Selecting a modular architecture and an appropriate stack safeguards the project’s future evolution. Clear technical documentation supports governance and simplifies maintenance.
Defining the Macro-Architecture
The macro-architecture maps the system’s main components and their interactions. It determines services, databases and external interfaces, providing an overall view to guide functional and technical decomposition decisions.
The modular approach favors microservices or separate business domains. Each block evolves independently, simplifying updates and minimizing global impact risks during changes. This modularity supports scalability.
The macro-architecture is validated through review workshops with architects, DevOps and security leads. Early collaboration anticipates operational and deployment constraints, preventing costly backtracking during development.
Selection of Open Source and Modular Technologies
The discovery phase includes a technical benchmark to identify the most suitable frameworks and languages. Open source solutions are preferred for their strong communities and longevity. This choice avoids vendor lock-in and guarantees future flexibility.
Evaluation criteria cover maintainability, performance and security. Scalability and compatibility with the existing ecosystem are also crucial. Modular stacks are favored to allow component replacement or upgrades without a full overhaul.
During its discovery phase, a retail brand opted for a Node.js and TypeScript architecture paired with an open API Gateway. This decision reduced the time to add new features by 40%, demonstrating the power of a well-tuned stack.
Governance and Technical Documentation
Technical documentation compiles all architecture decisions, API schemas and coding standards. It becomes the single reference for development and maintenance teams. Its quality directly influences new team members’ ramp-up speed.
A governance plan defines component owners, versioning rules and code review processes. This framework promotes code quality and consistency across modules and structures dependency update management.
Governance also includes periodic reviews to reassess technical choices. In case of a pivot or business evolution, it allows documentation updates and roadmap adjustments. This discipline ensures the project’s long-term viability.
Secure Software Lifecycle
An effective discovery phase aligned with your business objectives, scope, UX and technology stack creates a reliable foundation for any digital project. By combining interviews, market analysis, MVP prioritization, wireframes and a modular architecture, you achieve a clear roadmap and controlled budget. You limit scope creep, reduce rework and validate technical feasibility before committing to the build phase.
Our experts support CIOs, CTOs, digital transformation leaders and executive teams through this critical stage. They help structure your project, choose the optimal stack and establish effective governance. To learn how to reduce cost overruns, discover how to limit IT budget overruns.
