How Much Importance Discovery Phase Hold for Developing an Application?

The software development industry has become the most profiting industry over time and it has turned heads of many towards software development. As the trends of this industry keep on changing, the newer and most profitable one has come of mobile application development. The software development models fitting the space for mobile application development are followed to get an application developed as the clients have asked for. Therefore, the software development model to be followed is required to be chosen carefully to ensure a correct approach is adopted for developing an application.

These development models consist of phases that are required to be followed to ensure all requirements are answered well and the development proceeds in the right direction only. Hence, these phases hold their own importance in the development process. Generally, the phases to be followed are Discovery Phase, Analysis Phase, Designing Phase, Development Phase, Testing Phase, and Maintenance Phase. Therefore, the applications being developed pass through all these phases and the final product gets delivered.

However, with changing times, many have adapted to newer approaches to software development which sometimes skip any one of these phases during the development. But the discovery phase has never left its place from the process and persists in every software development model being followed. Therefore, many businesses arise questions regarding the importance of this phase and often intend to skip it which is not advisable.

As the development of an application is required to be done in the correct way, the discovery phase holds its own significance in the entire process. Also, the development companies who look to hire swift developer, or any other technology experts check for the thorough knowledge regarding the development process and emphasize on knowledge regarding discovery phase too.

What Is Included in Discovery Phase?

Discovery phase is all about mapping out the requirements of the application to be developed. Preparing a blueprint and what will fit where is what discovery phase includes. With the use of visual representation forms and written data, the requirements are gathered and well-understood. In order to deliver the application exactly as the user has asked for, it becomes important for you to gather and enlist the requirements well and make your developers understand what exactly is required from them when they develop the application. It helps you deliver the best with least efforts once the discovery phase is executed at its best.

There are many things included in the discovery phase but the primary one is requirement gathering. As the application is being developed for serving a specific purpose, the motive behind the application and other requirements are required to be known to developers to get the application developed containing every required criterion. However, there are various processes followed for gathering the requirements of the application:

Eliciting

This includes the requirement gathering through interacting with customers and knowing what they have in mind for the application and how it should function. It provides a much clear view of developing an application that follows the customers' enumeration.

Analyzing

The gathered requirements are analyzed and the functions and features for the application are designed. Analyzing the gathered requirements is necessary to understand how many features and functionality should an application have.

Requirement Modeling

With the help of use cases, case studies, user stories, and other such forms, the requirements for the project are modeled.

Customer Review

After gathering and successfully modeling the requirements on paper, the process for confirmation from the customers is done to ensure no requirements are left and all features and functionalities required are to be embedded in the application. It increases customer satisfaction.

Constructing Architectural Design

Constructing the architecture to be followed by the software is included in the discovery phase and it defines the way a system works. Therefore, using UML (Unified Modeling Language) diagrams, the visual representation of the project is created. This helps in developing the understanding for designing the software/application and can help place the features and functionalities together which are created to be together.

Use of Flowcharts

Defining the flow of the application, flowcharts are used to define how the user can proceed through the application and how the application functions will work and interact with the users. Therefore, constructing thorough flowcharts will help in listing down the missing things that stop the application from delivering excellent user experience.

Gantt Charts

Gantt charts are used for creating a project timeline to be followed to ensure the final product is developed within the given time. Therefore, constructing a schedule for carrying out every required action is necessary to do to ensure the required actions are taken from time to time. Developing a Gantt chart in advance helps you own an advantage over the time as you can plan for better testing executions by saving time wasted unnecessarily during development time.

Therefore, executing the discovery phase is necessary and the most fundamental requirement for developing the application you have ever wanted for your business. After consulting with your application development firm, you can ensure that this phase is executed well in advance and can make sure that your application is excellently working when it is deployed in the market and you can earn more user base from it.