Business managers at ISS Art are often asked questions about our processes and ways to start the development of a software project in the most efficient way. And we thought: why not gather these questions and share the answers with you?

In this article, we will cover the most common questions we get from potential clients when we just start our discussions about their projects. We hope you will find this information useful, especially if you consider building your own software product.

1. What are your engagement models and pricing?

We work either on fixed-price or on hourly basis.

For a fixed price model we set the estimated scope of works with a strict budget and timeline. Any additional changes or requirements will be estimated accordingly and added to the original scope.

For hourly basis model we determine the business goals of the client and move iteratively towards it. The payment is made according to the hours that an expert spent on the project tasks completion.

You can find more details about our collaboration models here in the FAQ section.

2. What makes you different from freelancers?

When you work with a team like ours, the whole company is responsible for the result. This prevents a situation when a dishonest developer just disappears. In addition, you don't have to be dependent on a single developer in case he/she is on vacation or on a sick leave – the company will provide a highly qualified professional to substitute the absent team member.

3. What do we need to start a project in the shortest amount of time?

To start the project in the shortest amount of time, we suggest customers providing as more detailed requirements as possible. It not only saves time on exchanging questions and answers back and forth but also allows developers to have a full overview of the project and make accurate time and budget estimates.

In addition, we are open to cooperate with you even if your project requirements cannot be defined to the fullest within a short period of time. In this case, we will assist you with requirements prioritization.

Once the must-have functionality is defined, we suggest starting with MVP development. This way we can ensure faster product introduction and market tests, so, the significant time amount can be saved as well.

4. What stages does your typical project have?

Normally, we have 4 stages of project development:

1. Gathering project requirements and clarifying them with a customer;
2. Creating wireframes and documentations based on the project information:
3. Developing and testing a solution;
4. Project support and maintenance.

You can see more detailed description of our processes here.

However, we are open to non-typical scenarios as well. For example, we are ready to handle projects which have already been developed and require maintenance.

5. How much time approximately do we need for the preparation phase?

If a customer does not have detailed requirements, we suggest having several workshop sessions.

Here is how it works: our team (including software architect, business manager, and business analyst) sets up a meeting with a client. During this meeting we discover the feasibility of the project idea, determine the approach to implementation and development, clarify all the necessary details required for the technical design. The final goal is to translate the findings into insights and actions, and their implications in the overall business.

The quantity of workshop sessions depends on the project size and can be determined after the first session. The first session may take up to 2 hours depending on the scope of tasks.

6. How is the project development cost determined in your company?

The project development is estimated by a team of experts: a software engineer, a UI/UX designer, an analyst, a QA engineer with a final review by a software architect. The estimates are based on the requirements and business goals.

We include communication, bug fixing, code review and testing expenditures in order to make our estimates transparent which helps to avoid any unwanted surprises for a customer. In addition, when estimating a project, we take into account risks which are common for software development process (such as underestimation, revisions, waiting time, etc.). So, we estimate a project as a turnkey solution.

These are the questions we are typically asked by our potential clients at the very beginning of our negotiations. In the nearest future we will publish an article covering questions we get closer to the project start.

Stay tuned!