The scoping checklist.
The questions we ask in the first week of every project. Answer them at your own pace — a sentence each is plenty — and bring them to the call. The ones you can't answer yet are the ones discovery is for.
Print this page, or paste your answers into the brief.
The idea
- What does it do, in one sentence?
- Who is it for — a specific person, not a market?
- What do those people use today instead?
- Why now? What changed?
The people
- Who decides what gets built?
- Who will use it every day?
- Who has to approve it, or pay for it?
- Who looks after it once it's live?
The AI agent, if there is one
- Which task should it take off someone's plate, start to finish?
- What does it need to read to do that — data, documents, systems?
- What may it do without asking, and what must a person approve first?
- How will you know it did the job well? What would a bad result look like?
Where it runs
- iPhone, Android, the web — and which one first?
- Does it need to work offline?
- Which devices do your users actually have?
What already exists
- Designs, code, a brand, content, store accounts?
- Systems it must connect to — CRM, payments, ERP, calendars, support?
- Data you have, and data you wish you had?
Constraints
- Rules that apply — health, finance, children, accessibility?
- Privacy and data residency requirements?
- The budget range, and what it must include?
- Hard dates — an event, a season, a funding round?
Launch and after
- Who owns the store accounts, the domain, the analytics?
- Who supports users on day one?
- What does done look like at launch — and what comes right after?
Want this by email, to come back to later? We'll send you the link.
Have an idea?
Let's take it all the way.
A written take on scope, timeline and budget, from the person who'd lead your product.
or write to hello@soooftware.com