Guide · Product planning
How do you plan business software before development starts?
A useful brief explains what is not working today, who needs the solution and how success will be measured. Technology choices follow these answers.
01. Describe the current workflow
List who starts the process, where data arrives and who checks it. Identify manual steps, duplicated information, frequent errors and exceptions. A concrete order, invoice or customer support example often explains more than a long feature wish list.
02. Identify users and access
Who works in the system daily, who approves actions and who only reads results? Separate employee, administrator, customer and supplier scenarios. This informs the interface, permissions and data boundaries before screens are designed.
03. Gather integration details
List existing CRM, ERP, accounting and document systems. Check whether each supports APIs, file exports or other data exchange. Prepare anonymised examples. Do not send passwords or personal records through a public form.
04. Choose the first valuable stage
Choose one important workflow rather than the entire future product. Agree what is included, what comes later, how results are checked and who accepts delivery. Discovery or a prototype can resolve uncertainties before committing to implementation.
05. Prepare for launch
Plan migration, staff involvement, testing and maintenance. Decide who owns integrations, errors and new requirements. Launch changes day-to-day operations; delivering code alone does not complete that change.
Check your assumptions.
Use the planner to explore scope, calculate time value and submit a specific request.
Plan a project →