Formulating the goals and objectives of the future project

I am convinced that the formulation of the goal and objectives of the project is one of the most important stages of the software development project. Its importance lies in the fact that at this stage the customer of the software product acquaints the contractor with his idea, sets the direction for the development of the future project and determines the maximum permissible limits beyond which the project should not go. If the customer does not tell the contractor about his idea in a form accessible to the contractor, then the contractor will not be able to complete the work. If the customer incorrectly or inaccurately determines the goal of the future project, then the contractor will not have a guideline for his activities and is unlikely to be able to fulfill the customer's plan. Even if the error is discovered at a later stage, changing the direction of the project will be costly. Finally, project limits enable the customer and contractor to prevent unacceptable losses if the project is not implemented.

When formulating the goals and objectives of the project, a document should be created

Preparatory stage of software development

Of course, the very nature of the project also contributes to the duration of the stage. If work is to be done on the order of state structures or a company with state participation, then most likely at the preparatory stage we will talk about preparing for a tender. In this case, at all stages it is necessary to act with the maximum degree of formalization, which, of course, does not speed up the work. If a future project is commissioned by an internal customer, then more often than not, it is necessary to extinguish the ardor of too impatient managers in order to enable the performers to give realistic estimates.

In my opinion, the most comfortable for performers is working on an investment product, where it is somewhat easier to strike a balance between the necessary process activities and project constraints.

It is important that you complete all the tasks listed here and do not continue the project until you are sure that the time and budget spent on it will not be wasted and will bring tangible benefits. Whatever methodology you use when developing software, you must solve all these tasks of the preparatory stage. Practice shows that the choice of methodology for the development of a particular product should be made during the preparatory phase, and not before it. I know teams that abandoned a project as unrealizable just because they didn't want to change their approach to development and abandon, for example, scrum. The flexibility of the team in terms of choosing a methodology is an essential factor in assessing the feasibility of a project.