What you should know first and foremost is: How the Soup is Made

Number one in the process of “How the Soup is Made” is The Five D's of software development. They are Discover, Define, Design, Develop, and Deploy. It is hard to know what to expect of the development team and your role as the Product Owner if you have never heard of The Five D’s. Understanding the phases represented by the Five D’s will help you be an informed buyer and a smart Product Owner.  Each phase incurs costs.  Each phase has goals, risks, and deliverables.  Each phase in and of itself can be a place where great ideas die on the vine or new discoveries are made. The process can propel a nascent project to great success or prevent unnecessary costs.  Ultimately, at the end of the day you are a Product Owner. So you should own the process and understand The Five D’s.

Below is a short description of each pillar or phase.

Discover - work as a team to ideate, create goals, and draft an MVP

Define - identify and quantify the problems and plan the attack with a solid MVP

Design - visualize and architect the solution, process feedback

Develop - implement the solution and achieve objectives and goals

Deploy - deliver the developed solution, provide continual support

Lather, rinse, repeat, as you will certainly go through this lifecycle multiple times, or at least you should if you have the right type of dev team on board.  

Knowing this process can equip you with the understanding of the right questions to ask at the right time. Dive into our technical article reviewing the process in becoming an informed buyer of custom software.