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Discovery Phase
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The Discovery Phase is the ultimate safety plan for digital products. As far as maths and science go.

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What is a
Discovery
Phase?

Discovery is a value packed service including UX and tech research & prototype creation and development roadmap — everything to make sure your future MVP has more chances for success.

  • Discover tech challenges early on, and thoroughly prepare for development;
  • Get the first prototype to quickly gather market feedback;
  • Finalize product vision based on market insights and competitors research;
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When would you benefit from this?

If you have a great business hunch you do not need the Discovery service. But in case you prefer making data-driven decisions and planning ahead, all while saving time and money for future development, it might be a great fit. Especially when you are looking into:

Raising
investment capital

Picture this: you come up with a great idea, but it needs to be validated and tested. This way you can present real-life data to your future investors.

Assuring demand
for your product

When you have a grounded vision of your product, that needs to be proved right (or wrong) and checked if your end-user actually needs it.

Checking
technical feasibility

In case you have a ready-to-go concept, but you want to test it along with the product’s features when it’s unclear if your project is viable and technically possible.

Experiencing performance issues

Let’s say that your business is affected by the subpar product’s performance. Then you might be looking into changing to a different tech stack.

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So what's the point of Discovery...?

Research and testing at the onset of your project can tell if your brilliant idea is capable of living up to expectations. ‘Why is the Discovery phase beneficial?’ you may ask. Well, we made a list:

Solve the real problem
Before you go into development, find out whether your TA actually has the problem through in-depth user interviews.
Clear vision & goals
Thorough research and an internal vision workshop will help you crystallise your vision & align it with all the stakeholders.
Optimised budget
Save time and money before going into full-fledged development. Every $1 invested in UX brings $100 in return.
Smarter launch strategy
When you know your customers and their pains — you know where and how to better get them on board.
On-point estimation
By creating detailed requirements, we are able to give very precise development time estimations.
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What's our approach?

In the same way that software development is a complex and very project-specific process, each discovery project must be treated differently. But here's a general guide on our approach to the Discovery process:

Product Vision
& Business Analysis

In the first step, we gather all the info we can about the project. After conducting thorough market and competitor research we are able to properly structure the project’s scope. Our team defines user personas, identifies essential features, and assesses all the alternatives prior to aligning this vision with the stakeholders.

User
Research

Discover people, not projects. $1 invested in UX brings $100 in return. We talk to users, learn their real problems, and based on our findings you’ll know how your product should be & feel in order to meet the end users’ needs.

Tech Research
& Architecture

Technology should be aligned with your business, not the other way around. Tech & Architecture Research is a super detailed investigation of technical possibilities that we do to align your project business goals with the project scope, optimizing both development costs and time.

Design

Our designers carefully consider all user journeys and research findings before jumping into the project to make sure it connects with your audience and differentiates you on the market. The end result is a winning UX/UI for your product that is a breeze to implement for development.

Idea Validation

At this stage, rather than branding an idea with a true/false mindset, we go into full discovery mode. Researching new information relating to people's problems is what it's all about. This is where we find out if your idea has a shot at becoming the next big thing. It's game on if we figure out how to make users fall in love with your product!

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Clear Product
Vision
Functionality
Do Do it now
Decide Schedule a time to do it
Delegate Who can do it for you?
Delete Eliminate it
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Say hi to the
Discoverers

It is possible for the Discovery team to change depending on the project. However, some key members are responsible for overseeing the entire Discovery phase.

Svitlana Filipova

Product Owner

Say hi to Svitlana, our Product Owner, her job is our tactical response to product management.

Svitlana translates the product vision into actionable tasks and works with cross-functional agile teams to execute those requirements.

Oleksandr Harniichuk

Project Manager

Oleksandr can organise processes for any project, as passionately as he recites Ukrainian poetry. Oleksandr has worked on a healthcare product FlipMD, that was acquired by a Fortune 500 company!

As a project manager, Oleksandr makes sure everything runs smoothly and keeps track of what’s going on.

Michael Borozenets

Tech Lead

Michael is known to some as Fulcrum’s CTO, to others as the god of programming, as he can solve anything development-related. He always comes up with tech solutions that suit best for each and every project.

Technical requirements analysis and suggestion of tools and methodologies are his specialities.

Fedir Makatera

Lead Designer

Fedir has 30+ projects under his belt, and he’s worked on Buff, Mercedes-Benz Ukraine and many more.

Fedir lives in Troieshchyna, and we suspect that he has no fear in this life. As a UI/UX designer, he is responsible for both research and creating an intuitive user interface.

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ExpectedResults & Deliverables

We will deliver the following items after completing the Discovery phase:

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    Project roadmap & estimation

    Project roadmaps serve as visual representations of the project’s goals, tasks, and assignments. A project roadmap usually includes the following components:

    • Objectives or goals of a project
    • Budgeting and resource allocation
    • High-level deadlines and milestones
    • Multi-person tasks and cross-functional tasks
    • Responsibilities related to stakeholders and cross-functional teams

    A roadmap needs to be perfected over time since it’s a collaborative and dynamic document. Thus, it will be revisited and updated as the project comes to life.

  • 02

    Business model & goals overview

    Essentially, a business model canvas describes how a business or product will get to market successfully. The categories contained in a canvas can be customized. But most will cover such key areas as:

    • Defining the value propositions of a product (what it provides and what it promises)
    • The target market (who it is for)
    • The key goals (the steps the team must take to succeed)
    • Marketing and sales channels (how the organisation will market and sell the product)
    • Partnering with third parties (what role they will play in the plan)
    • An overview of the cost structure (costs associated with building and selling a product)
    • Monetization models (how the product will generate revenue)
  • 03

    User personas & user flows

    User personas represent the users who are likely to use your product. In order to create the potential user groups for your product, we conduct user research to learn about your users, their behaviour, characteristics, needs, and goals. Using this research, you define the user personas and reference them in the design process in order to make the correct decisions.

    Once user personas are defined, the next step is to determine how the user will perform tasks in the product also known as user flows As part of the design process, steps and flow are described and shown in a visual representation.

  • 04

    Product wireframes

    Wireframes provide a basic blueprint for how your product’s layout and design structure. Using simple greyscale lines and boxes, wireframes specify the screens, layout, navigation, and functionality of the product and define its building blocks.

  • 05

    Productr equirements document

    PRDs outline the specific features, and functionality as they drive the development process of a product. A PRD is written to capture the product vision and requirements. Each subsequent document in the release is guided by the PRD. Originally, PRDs were used in the military sector, where complex product requirements needed to be captured. Later on, it made its way to the business world becoming an essential tool for product development.

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