While it can be exciting and tempting to try and get your software project out to market as fast as possible, taking the time to lay the foundation of your project will benefit you now and in the long run. Often overlooked, but an extremely important step in that process is what happens before any actual development is done, planning and prepping. Proper preparation of the project’s goals and business terminology goes a long way in actually saving money on development costs. To begin this your organization needs to be united in what you want your application to accomplish amongst other points we outline at the end. Next when you meet with us the time needs to be taken to engage with us and get as detailed as possible during our initial discussions. What will this accomplish in the short and long run? The answer is that this will simply but vastly reduce the need for large costly changes mid development cycle. In the short run, you will not expand your costs and timetable for completion. It is not uncommon for a company to change directions when no clear paths and goals have been established ahead of time. Having proper terms established for the various parts that will make up the project help keep things maintainable in the long run by reducing possible support costs or cost of future upgrades.
Oftentimes if things like the terminology or goals of the project are not clearly and accurately defined up-front this ends up costing more in revisions than what you think you can save by starting development faster. Ideally with proper preparation during initial discussions and the quote process, these can be reduced to a minimum. We definitely encourage a thorough review of the quote provided to help make sure we are all on the same page for the project. Our work is entirely based on what was established in the quote so this is extremely important. Additionally, if an issue is not caught at this step it can end up spidering out and causing major issues further on in the process.
For example, an instance like renaming WidgetX to WidgetY may seem simple on the surface level but can end up causing a wide range of issues into all of the connected pieces of the application that make use of WidgetX. This causes costs to inflate unnecessarily.
Things to think about when preparing:
- What are the main problems that you are looking to solve with the software?
- What are the security requirements?
- Clear definitions for the terminology of your application in which will be working with.
- Listing out any needed 3rd party integrations required.
- Defining how you expect users to interact and use the application.
- Requirements for how the application looks visually if a priority.
- What platforms will the application need to be available on? (Web, Desktop, Mobile)
- Clear definitions of project end
Taking the time to work through questions like this early on will provide an overall result in us being able to project you a more cost-effective solution and overall, a better product. Contact us online or call us today and we can help you to lay out a plan for your specific organization.