What to expect from a custom software discovery phase

Before any code gets written, a good discovery phase maps out how your team actually works, not how you assume it works on paper. This usually means interviews with the people who'll use the system daily, a review of current tools and spreadsheets in use, and identifying the specific bottlenecks that are costing time or money. The output is a clear scope document that both sides agree on before development starts, which prevents the most common cause of project delays: discovering new requirements halfway through the build.