How we scope a software project before writing any code

The first meeting is not about software

Before we talk about a stack, a database or a screen, we sit with the people who do the work and watch how it actually happens today. Where does the paper pile up? Which number does someone keep in a private spreadsheet because the system will not hold it?

What we ask

• Who touches this process, and in what order?
• What breaks when the person who normally does it is away?
• Which of these steps exists only because an old system demanded it?

That last question is the useful one. A surprising share of any workflow is scar tissue from software that has since been replaced.

Why it decides the architecture

A process with three approvers in different offices is a different system from one with a single manager, even when the screens look identical. Getting that wrong is expensive later and free to get right now.