Apps and websites are\u00a0the best ways\u00a0to\u00a0engage\u00a0with\u00a0your customers and stakeholders as well as manage\u00a0your\u00a0business systems.<\/p>\n
However, when starting a new tech project to create or improve their app or website, many businesses either spend too much time crafting detailed requirements for the project or jump straight into months of development without proper planning.<\/p>\n
These are problems Botha van der Vyver, Managing Director at award-winning digital solutions provider\u00a0JustSolve, encounters on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
Van Der Vyver said businesses view a few weeks of upfront discovery, research, and planning as a waste of money or an unnecessary delay to completing a project.<\/p>\n
This means businesses often enter the system development life cycle (SDLC) with either minimal and\/or abstract requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe inevitable problem with this is that priorities change throughout the lifecycle of a project,\u201d Van der Vyver said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve seen projects come to a crashing halt because small assumptions weren’t validated early enough, causing an avoidable loss of time and money for both us and the client.”<\/p>\n
Fortunately, JustSolve\u2019s Design and Strategy workshops acts as an insurance policy that help mitigate most of the risk, ultimately ensuring projects get delivered on time and within budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorkshopping and iterating as much as possible at the inception of a new initiative gets the entire team to ask the right questions, challenge unvalidated assumptions, and focus the product roadmap,\u201d Van der Vyver said.<\/p>\n
These workshops can happen in person or remotely, and include:<\/p>\n
The workshops pinpoint exactly where the team should focus their effort on in the development phase, which in a new initiative, is called the MVP (Minimum Viable Product).<\/p>\n
The process then culminates in rapid prototyping and user testing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prototyping technology we use in the Design and Strategy phase lets us quickly test out assumptions and ideas, and get real feedback from users,\u201d Van der Vyver said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis way we find out in the beginning of the project if our assumptions haven’t hit the mark, rather than after months and months of development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of this approach, it is about five-times cheaper to make iterative changes during the Design and Strategy phase than during the software development phase.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the old development joke goes: Weeks of coding can save you hours of planning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
JustSolve\u00a0covers every nook and cranny of the Design and Strategy process, with\u00a0services\u00a0on offer\u00a0including:<\/p>\n
JustSolve\u00a0is not just about\u00a0writing code,\u00a0they\u00a0are\u00a0thought leaders that help\u00a0your business\u00a0realise immediate\u00a0and\u00a0continuous\u00a0value.<\/p>\n