Discovery phase of Shopify development: how does it work in each exact case?

My partners often ask me "Why do we need a discovery phase for the Shopify development project?" My short answer will be: "To minimize risks, estimate and plan the project in the best way". But let me share my thoughts about it in more detail.

To understand the value of the discovery phase let's answer the following questions:

What is discovery??—?It is a research &development pre-production process. Imagine that you're building a house. An obligatory step would be to prepare a blueprint that shows what floors, rooms, windows, and doors will be in the house. For Shopify development discovery is analogical to the preparation of such a blueprint.

What pains does the discovery phase cover??—?First of all, it lets a client check a concept "on paper", and verify primarily if all the desired functionality or design are reasonable and effective. It also provides a client with a more precise project timeline and budget. During this phase, major risks are defined early. Based on all these inputs (and usually with the use of a list of the User stories) the client can prioritize some features and cut inessential ones before production. In other words, the discovery phase lets the client understand what exact features are recommended to be developed for the first release and what can be implemented later.

What are the deliverables of the discovery phase??— Deliverables of the Discovery phase can be divided into two groups: General and Specific. General deliverables are prepared for all the projects and include the Estimation file and the Gantt Chart of project implementation.

Specific deliverables may vary depending on the type of project (new Shopify store, redesign, migration from Magento to Shopify, new Shopify app) Such deliverables may include:

• User stories?— it is a natural language description of the desired features. User stories usually have the following structure: "As a [persona] I want to [capacity] so that [benefit] ". This artifact is essential for planning the development of Shopify apps
• Technical requirements — a detailed description of the desired functionality. This artifact can be prepared for complex Shopify apps
• Design brief — a detailed description of pages, content, and features. This artifact is good for the design of the storefront.
• User flow chart?— a visualization of each step user takes when using the product. This artifact is essential for planning for the development of Shopify apps and sometimes Shopify stores.
• Risk matrix?— a visualization of risks that may arise during project implementation, showing their probability and impact. Based on it Risk management plan can be prepared to minimize the possibility and effects of the risks.
• Architecture chart?— a visualization of the inner logic of the software, showing logical relations between its components. Also, during the discovery phase, technical stack and hosting requirements are defined.

Sometimes clients think that the Discovery phase is not needed due to the simplicity of the task or because the client already has prepared technical materials I'd say that many tasks that seem to be simple may have unknown particularities. Also, it is useful to ensure that partners' expectations and the developer's vision are 100% the same. For example, if the client thinks about a simple redesign of the existing store, it is very important to describe the functionality behind the UI.

Also, if the client already has a part of the documentation, it is important to make it close to technical standards and check if it has any gaps. For instance, it is often useful to prepare user stories based on the technical requirements provided by the client. In any case, participation and discussion between the client and the development (discovery) team is highly encouraged during the discovery phase.

That being said, what do we have:

• every successful project starts with research;
• discovery eliminates the risks, giving a clear vision of the project before it even starts;
• it also provides a clear timeline and budget;
• and finally, it ensures that the team and the partners are on the same page;

I hope I have provided useful insights into your long journey. Don't hesitate to contact me to discuss the matter! And let's connect on the Linkedin profile link