Discovery phase and technical specification
A discovery phase and a technical specification before a software or website build: workshops with your team, requirements and user stories, the scope of the first release, the architecture, a clickable prototype in Figma and an estimate, written into a specification any development team can build from, with business analysts for your team or a discovery delivered end to end.
What a discovery phase produces
Workshops with your team
Structured sessions with the people who own the business, the process and the budget, so goals, users and constraints are agreed before anyone designs or estimates.
Requirements and user stories
What the software must do, written as user stories with acceptance criteria, together with the rules, roles, data and integrations it depends on.
The scope of the first release
The features that go into the first release and the ones that wait, chosen together so the first version is useful and the budget holds.
Architecture and technology
The components, the data model, the integrations, the hosting and the stack, with the alternatives considered and the reasons they were set aside.
A clickable prototype
The main screens drawn in Figma and linked into a prototype, so users and stakeholders can try the product before a line of code is written.
The specification and the estimate
A technical specification, the release plan and an estimate broken down by feature, written so that any team can build from them, ours included.
Hire business analysts
Dedicated business analysts
Business analysts who join your team full time, work in your tools and process, and report to your lead. You interview them; we carry the Ukrainian contract, payroll, invoicing and leave.
Requirements analysis projects
A defined piece of requirements analysis with a scope, a fixed plan and a named lead on our side who owns the result and reports progress in your channels.
Ongoing requirements analysis
Requirements analysis as a continuing service: the same people every month, a backlog you prioritise, and hours you can see in our portal and on the invoice.
The dedicated team page explains how specialists join your team, and the outsourcing page covers project delivery, take-overs and how we charge.
Who works on your requirements analysis
Business analysts
Workshops, requirements and the specification
Software architects
Architecture, integrations and the choice of technology
UI and UX designers
The clickable prototype in Figma
Project managers
The release plan, the risks and the estimate
QA engineers
Acceptance criteria that can be tested
How a discovery phase runs
Discovery starts with what you already have, whether a brief, a spreadsheet, an old system or a competitor you admire, and ends with documents a development team can price and build from. Where the question is whether the project is worth doing at all, the same work becomes a feasibility study, with the costs, the risks and the expected benefit set side by side.
For a website the specification covers the pages, the content, the forms, the integrations and the platform; for software it covers the users, the processes, the data and the integrations. Every document is delivered into your accounts and belongs to you, and if we build the product, the people who wrote the specification stay on the project.
Other research and audits we carry out
Market and competitor research
Market and competitor research before a launch or a market entry: desk research, competitor products and pricing, customer interviews, surveys and market sizing, in a written report that answers your question.
R&D and proof of concept
Proof of concept, prototypes and R&D for ideas that may not work yet: AI and data experiments, integration spikes, device prototypes and research reports for grant-funded projects.
Code and technical audit
Code and technical audits of existing software: code quality, architecture, security, dependencies and licences, performance, infrastructure and cloud costs, with a written list of risks ranked by impact.
Website audit
Website audits of technical SEO, speed and Core Web Vitals, WCAG 2.2 accessibility, security headers, analytics and UX, with every problem ranked by impact and the fixes made by the same team.
Questions about discovery and technical specification
How much does a discovery phase cost?
It depends on the size of the product and how much is already decided, so we answer with a written estimate rather than a guess. After a short call you get the scope of the discovery, the documents it produces, the dates and the price.
Do we have to build the software with you afterwards?
No. The specification, the prototype and the estimate are yours, and any team can build from them. If you build with us, the people who wrote the specification stay on the project, so nothing is lost between the discovery and the build.
What is the difference between discovery and a feasibility study?
Discovery defines what to build and how. A feasibility study answers whether to build it at all, comparing the costs, the risks and the expected return. The two are often run together, with the feasibility answer first.
How quickly can business analysts start?
When the right business analyst is available, the start is gated only by your interview and the NDA and IP assignment. Otherwise we run a search, which typically produces candidate profiles within two to three weeks, and nobody starts until you have said yes.
How do we hire business analysts through BigTree108?
Tell us the work, the seniority and the hours you need. We propose one or two people with their profiles, you interview them the way you would interview your own hire, and you sign one agreement with BIG TREE 108 LLC and receive one invoice a month.
Who owns the work they produce?
You do. Every specialist has a signed contract with BigTree108 that assigns all work product to the company, and our agreement with you assigns it onward. Code, designs and documents are delivered into your own repositories and tools, not kept where only we can change them.
Have an idea that needs a specification?
Tell us what you want to build and what already exists. You get an answer within one business day: a plan for the discovery, the documents it will produce and the price.