Software Discovery
The software discovery process gets to the root of your problems and creates a plan to solve them.
What does software discovery mean?
The software discovery process is the first stage of the development cycle. At this point, you’ll provide information about the problem(s) you’re facing, the areas you wish to focus on, your vision of success, the goals you want to accomplish, your budget, and potential risks.
Some people think they must know exactly what software they want to buy or build when they enter the discovery process. But that simply isn’t true.
We design this process to help you “discover” what is going on with your business and what you need to fix it and see a sound return on your investment.
At Steelhead Software, we provide the software discovery process as a service that helps you improve your business. We are not order-takers. We are business analysts and custom software implementers ready to partner with you and guide you through software development.
Nearly 40% of projects fail due to a lack of proper software discovery and requirements gathering.
What is the software discovery process?
During the software discovery process, we identify what problems must be solved and which software solutions will deliver the best value for your business needs. Throughout several meetings, you will share details about your issues and what it will mean for your business to solve these problems. If you have any deadlines or preferred software launch dates, you should also mention those, as such details will significantly impact the project.
After we gather the preliminary information, we can begin brainstorming solutions.
As the software discovery process sets up your entire project, it’s best to set yourself up for success by bringing your business-critical stakeholders to the discovery meetings. These individuals should be able to discuss your business processes from end to end in great detail. They should also be comfortable providing honest and transparent information about what’s happening at your business.
If we don’t cover all the facts, we can’t solve your real problems.
Discussing what’s happening in your business helps us build a solution roadmap that prioritizes your problems based on your business needs, budget, and timeline. Making this roadmap requires our team to gather a lot of information about your business, and there is only so much you can learn from discussions alone.
One of the things that sets Steelhead Software apart from other developers is that we will insist on in-person observations as part of the software discovery process. Whether we have to do this in the field, factory, or office, we’re up to the challenge!
Seeing real people work through your current business processes is important because it reveals user behaviors that often contribute to your business problems. By understanding those issues, we can build the right solutions that fit your needs.
What to bring to software discovery meetings:
All main stakeholders and essential team leaders
List of company pain points and priorities
Business workflow diagrams
Descriptions of different employee teams
Lists of current technology solutions
Contact information of any other vendors involved in this project
What do I get from software discovery?
These and other deliverables create a complete project portfolio you can present directly to your executive team, investors, or other essential stakeholders. Whether you continue your project with Steelhead Software or not, you can rest assured knowing that you have the best plan for your business needs.
Project timeline
Itemized budget
Project features
Recommended project priorities
We also provide thorough descriptions of how the proposed software solution will solve your business-critical problems and deliver on your list of goals.
One of the other items you’ll receive, the Tech Approach Document, takes a deeper dive into the proposed technical solutions. This document describes:
Solution architecture
An explanation of software choices
Process mapping
Risk assessments
Our software discovery process is a service to you and your business. As part of that service, you will receive detailed project deliverables providing a reliable scope of work, budget, visuals, and high-level software solutioning descriptions.
One of the deliverables, the Steelhead Software Scope of Work, addresses several key elements of your project, including:
Explore Our Full Process
Contact us
Let’s get in touch.