Discovery
Spec the work before we cut any code.
Discovery is where a vague idea becomes a contractable scope. We meet your stakeholders, audit the systems you already have, walk the workflow we are replacing or augmenting, and produce a written requirements document with named success criteria.
The output of Discovery is a Statement of Work that you can sign — fixed-price or T&M, with milestones, deliverables, and acceptance criteria. Without that, we do not write code. With it, both sides have a shared definition of done from day one.
Discovery usually runs 1 to 2 weeks for a focused engagement and is itself priced as a fixed deliverable.
Activities in this phase
- Stakeholder interviews
- Workflow walkthrough of the current system
- Technical feasibility assessment
- Requirements analysis and prioritization
- Risk and dependency identification
- Architecture and stack proposal
- Effort estimation and timeline
Inputs
- Business objectives and success metrics
- Access to current systems and data samples
- Stakeholder availability for interviews
- Compliance, security, or audit constraints
- Budget envelope and timeline expectations
Deliverables
- Requirements document with user stories
- Technical specification
- Project timeline and milestones
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- Acceptance criteria for each milestone
- Risk register
Who is involved
- Lead engineer from our side
- Product or business owner from your side
- Operational stakeholders for workflow walkthroughs
- IT/security if relevant to integration scope
Decisions locked in
- In-scope vs out-of-scope features
- Technical stack and architecture
- Hosting and infrastructure approach
- Integration surface with existing systems
- Acceptance criteria and demo cadence
Acceptance criteria
- Requirements document signed off
- SOW signed by both parties
- Risk register reviewed
Frequently asked
How long does Discovery take?
Usually 1 to 2 weeks. Very complex integrations or regulated workloads can push to 3 weeks. Anything longer is a sign the scope itself needs to be split.
Is Discovery billable?
Yes, Discovery is a fixed-price deliverable. We do not run unpriced discovery — it leads to vague scopes and bad outcomes for both sides.
What if we already have a spec?
Great. We treat your spec as the starting input and validate it against the systems and constraints we find. The output is still a signed SOW we can both commit to.
Ready to start a discovery call?
A 30-minute call to understand the work. A signed Statement of Work before any code is written.