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Discovery Phase value

Discovery services offered by Cleveroad help you turn project requirements into a clear plan to speed up the development and improve the product quality
Precise Definition of Development Inputs
Gain a clear vision of the project, conduct a risk assessment, comply with the legislation and domain best practices for a smooth delivery, align business goals with user needs, and create a useful and financially successful product
Finding Software's Growth Points
Reveal the outdated and ineffective aspects of the existing system, discover a field for upgrades, and ensure that the system meets the latest industry standards of security, usability, and interoperability
Business Processes' Clarification
First, define your business processes "as is", analyze them, and improve the daily routine flow of actions and tasks — with your technology level "as is". Then, define the ways to automate manual processes to increase your business's efficiency and performance and propose the proper technical solution.

Place of Discovery in SDLC

We follow the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process in our work. Preparation and project planning are important for further SDLC phases to reach cost-effective development. That's why we cover the Collecting requirements, Analysis, and Product design during the Discovery Phase.

  1. 1.Discovery Phase
    Product design
  2. 2.Discovery Phase
    Analysis
  3. 3.Discovery Phase
    Preparation
  4. 4.Discovery Phase
    Collecting requirements
SDLC
  1. 5.Development Phase
    Development
  2. 6.Development Phase
    Testing
  3. 7.Development Phase
    Deployment
  4. 8.Development Phase
    Maintenance

Product discovery process

Preparation
Day 1
Day 3
Deep dive
Day 4
Day 10
Solution definition
Day 10
Day 15
Preparation
Duration: 1-3 days
Initial requirements analysis by our team and preparation of the optimal Discovery plan
Business Analysis
  • Business environment exploration
  • Market investigations and research
  • A detailed plan for the Discovery implementation
Solutions Architecture
  • Business goals and needs analysis
  • Technology landscape research
  • Initial list of the architecture limiting factors
UX/UX Design
  • Competitor Analysis
  • Creation of mood board for future concept
  • Enhancing discovery plan with UX activities
Deep dive
Duration: 4-10 days
Close scrutiny: business, technical, and UI/UX analysis for better vision, prioritization, and success indicators' formation
Business Analysis
  • Accurate business aims and vision
  • Modeled business flows
  • Functional decomposition
  • Defined priorities
  • Checked & collected feedbacks
Solutions Architecture
  • Essential requirements analysis
  • Limiting factors analysis
  • Quality Attributes Workshop
  • Architecture vision clarification
  • Checking & collecting feedback
UX/UX Design
  • Wireframes for core user flows (depending on the project needs)
  • Concept based on mood board and feature list
  • Start of the Mind Map creation
Solution definition
Duration: 10-15 days
We are working on the requirements and product design to better define the project implementation roadmap and the necessary expenses: this is an iterative process
Business Analysis
  • Functional decomposition
  • Fitting business roadmap and estimations
  • Crucial landmarks & priorities
  • Business requirements for the Roadmap
Solutions Architecture
  • Critical architecture views
  • Finalized technology stack
  • DevOps and Operations vision
  • Implementation efforts estimated
  • Finalized SAD (Software Architecture Document)
UX/UX Design
  • Wireframes or mindmap
  • Finalized UX solution vision
  • Defined visual constituents and style guides
Ready to Start With Our Discovery Team Experts?
The Discovery Phase is conducted by a team of qualified experts that devise the entire development blueprint

Discovery Phase deliverables

Documents that describe the project requirements and tech aspects of the development

Business Analysis

  • Feature breakdown list

    During Discovery, we reveal different development aspects to create a detailed feature list with user stories and a rough estimation with specification based on it.

  • Impact Map

    Impact Mapping enables decision-making about features to be built and incorporated into a product.

  • Activity/UML/BPMN diagrams/Flowcharts

    Depending upon the project needs, we create diagram(s) in one of the notations for process visualization to represent a series of actions and flow control in a system.

  • Software Architecture Document (SAD)

    The SAD BA part is updated according to the results of Discovery.

Solution Architecture

  • Quality Attribute Scenarios

    Quality attributes are a set of system functional and non-functional requirements that are used to evaluate the system performance. Quality Attribute Scenarios document describes quality attributes and possible scenarios of actions.

  • More precise estimation

    The estimation is based on the feature breakdown list. This document includes team composition and a minimum and maximum time to develop the necessary features. Team Composition is the configuration of a team. It is based on the team's task and is defined individually for each project to reach the best possible results during the development.

  • Project Plan

    A project plan defines project goals and objectives, specifies tasks and goals achievement, and identifies resources needed, associated budgets, and timelines for completion.

  • Architecture diagram

    An architecture diagram stands for the system's outline and the relationships and boundaries between components. It provides the overall view of the physical deployment and its evolution roadmap.

Design

  • Design concept

    Design concept. Our Design team creates concepts for the necessary platforms based on design requirements. We make two of them for mobile development (to choose from), and one page with the most elements is for the web.

  • Mind Map

    A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information into a hierarchy, showing relationships among pieces of the whole. It can help you find better and more creative solutions to problems, improve information retention, facilitate more effective brainstorming sessions with your team, and deliver a serious boost to your productivity.

Why you need a Discovery Phase

Clear requirements

The Discovery Phase is focused on clearing up your business and tech requirements. We single out features to fit your budget and follow industry standards.

Architecture tailored to goals

With a Solution Architect working on your product, we design architecture from the ground up to make sure it goes along with your business goals from the early stages.

Optimal development costs

The Discovery Phase is designed to define obstacles that may pop up during product development. Knowing all the risks, we can offer the solution that fits your budget.

Minimized risks

Your product idea goes through accurate analysis and planning. It means that you get a detailed project estimate and minimize failed deadlines and overpayment.
Unlock the full potential of your software idea with our Discovery Phase services. We’ll validate your product’s concept and provide you with a clear roadmap for your project success. Let's talk now!
Have plans on making your own apps?

Discovery Phase includes

The Discovery Phase's main goal is to exclude unknowns, prepare technical basis and UX design following your needs, and provide an accurate project time and cost estimation in the end.

02030405060701

Feature breakdown list

Business Analysts hold meetings with you to discuss business needs, user and functional requirements. After that, the Solution Architect checks the tech feasibility and suggests removing or keeping features to launch faster. You approve the final feature list before moving to the next stage.

Staff

  • Project Manager
  • Solution Architect
  • Business Analyst

Rough estimation

Developers, designers, and QA engineers estimate the feature list for the required platforms. Business Analyst prepares documents with rough estimation — minimum and maximum time needed to develop each feature. You should review the estimate to move on to the next stage.

Staff

  • Sales Manager
  • Business Analyst
  • UI/UX Designers
  • Software Engineers
  • QA Engineers
  • Solution Architect

Team composition

After getting the rough estimation, we compose the development team based on your requirements — developers, UI/UX designers, QA engineers.

Staff

  • Sales Manager
  • Project Manager
  • Solution Architect

Concept creation

Business Analyst gets design requirements, and Designers create concepts for the necessary platforms. We develop variants of several main screens, depending on project requirements. You should revise and pick the final version.

Staff

  • Business Analyst
  • UI/UX designers
  • Solution Architect

Specification

Business Analyst writes a specification to fulfil a backlog that is enough to start a project. The specification covers technical aspects and describes each feature in the form of user stories. As the entire team will be using the specification, the Quality Assurance engineer checks it for logical issues and guideline violations.

Staff

  • Business Analyst
  • Solution Architect
  • QA engineer

Wireframes

Once the specification is ready, designers start creating wireframes — a layout of a user interface. Designers arrange main elements like buttons and images on each screen. Business Analyst and QA engineer review and validate the wireframes. The QA engineer also checks the project requirements for testability.

Staff

  • UI/UX Designers
  • Business Analyst
  • Solution Architect
  • QA engineer

Detailed estimation

Our developers and designers estimate the product development cost for each platform. We estimate part of the project to start the development faster.

Staff

  • UI/UX Designers
  • Software Engineers
  • Solution Architect
  • Business Analyst
  • Sales Manager

Certifications

We keep deepening the expertise to meet your highest expectations and build business innovative software

ISO 27001

ISO 27001

Information Security Management System

ISO 9001

ISO 9001

Quality Management Systems

AWS

AWS

Select Partner Tier

AWS

AWS

Solutions Architect, Associate

Scrum Alliance

Scrum Alliance

Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner

AWS

AWS

SysOps Administrator, Associate

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Our Clients Say About Us

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Industry Contribution Awards

Leading rating & review platforms rank Cleveroad among top software development companies due to our tech assistance in clients' digital transformation.

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4.9

Award

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Clutch 1000 Service Providers, 2024 Global

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Clutch Spring Award, 2025 Global

Ranking

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Top AI Company,
2025 Award

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Top Software Developers, 2025 Award

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Top Web Developers, 2025 Award

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Ranking

Top Staff Augmentation Company in USA, 2025 Award

Questions you may have
Here you can get answers to common questions about Discovery services, their peculiarities, and advantages
What is a Discovery Phase?
The Discovery Phase helps you elicit, analyze, and prioritize features and finalize requirements. It allows clearing out tech aspects of the project and estimating the price.
Why do you need a Discovery Phase?
The Discovery Phase helps reduce development costs and minimize risks since you've already defined possible obstacles and ways to avoid them. Analyzing your goals, we can tailor the appropriate architecture.
How do you do a Discovery Phase?
There are several stages:
  • Project kick-off. Holding a kick-off meeting to get acquainted with the team and learn more about each member's role.
  • Feature breakdown. Business Analysts hold meetings with you to discuss user needs and functional requirements.
  • Rough estimation. Developers, designers, and QA engineers estimate the feature list for the required platforms. You get a rough estimation — minimum and maximum time needed to develop each feature.
  • Team composition. The Sales Manager collects the development team — developers, designers, and QA engineers. The Solution Architect and Project Manager validates the team.
  • Concept creation. Designers create two visual concepts of the product for you to choose from.
  • Specification. Business Analyst writes a specification covering tech aspects and describing each feature in the form of user stories.
  • Wireframes. Designers start creating wireframes — a layout of a user interface.
  • Final review. Quality Assurance engineers check each user story and wireframe for logic mistakes and guideline violations.
  • Detailed estimation. Our developers and designers estimate the final product development cost for each platform.
What do you get at the end of a Discovery Phase?
  • Specification
  • Rough estimate
  • Detailed estimate
  • Wireframes
  • Activity diagram
  • Flow chart
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