From prototype to product: how we scope and de-risk custom software

Most custom-software risk is not technical. It is building the wrong thing, or discovering a hard constraint in month three. Discovery exists to surface that early, cheaply.

Map the workflow as it really is

Sit with the people who will use the system. Document the current process including the spreadsheets, the workarounds and the exceptions. The exceptions are where projects overrun.

Name the unknowns

• Integrations with systems you do not control.
• Data migration from whatever exists today.
• Compliance, approvals and audit requirements.
• Volume and concurrency at peak, not on an average Tuesday.

For each, either prove it out with a spike or write down the assumption and its impact if wrong.

Deliver a plan, not just a quote

Discovery ends with a prioritised scope, a phased delivery plan with milestones, a data and integration design, and a fixed price for phase one. You should be able to start — or take the plan elsewhere — with no lock-in.