Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

You’ve got a product idea. Maybe you’ve spent months thinking about it. Maybe you’ve sketched out flows on napkins, built spreadsheets, talked to potential users. You know what you want. You’ve got a budget. You’re ready to go.

Then an agency like Phenomenon says, “Let’s start with Discovery.”

And you think: Here we go. Another upsell.

We get it. We’ve heard every version of this pushback:

• “We already know our audience.”
• “We’ve analyzed the competition.”
• “Our vision is clear. Just build what we described.”
• “Let’s save money and skip this step.”

Fair enough. Let’s talk about why we still bring it up, and why the teams who skip it almost always regret it.

What the discovery workshop actually is

Ruslan Vashchenko, our Head of Design, puts it plainly: “We identify user pain points, define MVP scope – sometimes MVP 1, 2, 3 – check feasibility with the development team, and match everything to your budget. Bluntly: what exactly we can build, in what form, and with what value for users – all within your budget.”

Anatolii Sakhno, our Head of Development, adds one critical piece: “Discovery includes architectural and integration decisions upfront. Because the integrations you need determine your architecture – and both drive your budget.“

Translation: Discovery answers three questions before anyone writes a line of code or draws a single screen:

1. What are we actually building?
2. Can we build it the way you’re imagining?
3. What will it cost, and what can we cut if that’s too much?

Some clients call it Discovery. Others prefer the Workshop. If you’re technical, Workshop probably resonates more. If you’re not, Discovery works. Either way, same thing: getting everyone aligned before the meter starts running.

What happens when you skip Discovery

We learned this the hard way.

Ruslan remembers a project called Isora, a governance and compliance platform. The client came to us for a reskin (basically a visual refresh, new colours and UI, same functionality underneath). We pushed for a UX audit because we had a feeling the reskin alone wouldn’t deliver the results they wanted. Turns out, we were right: the platform needed a full redesign. 

But here’s where we messed up: we didn’t do Discovery. We jumped straight in.

Result? The first epics got reworked two to three times.

Why? Because the client kept adding features (“let’s do this, let’s do that”), the designer started drawing immediately, and when it reached development, the backend couldn’t support what we’d designed. We either had to add extra hours to adapt the backend or extra hours to redesign around the existing backend.

Extra hours = extra cost. Every. Single. Time.

Now? On that same project – and every project since – we run a micro-discovery on every feature before design begins. After design wraps, development flows without major rewrites.

Once we corrected the course, the Isora platform achieved:

• 2x faster user workflows
• 50% shorter time-to-market
• Nomination for the UX Design Award 2024
• Long-lasting partnership with a satisfied client, still ongoing

Ruslan’s takeaway: “Discovery doesn’t make design and development faster or cheaper. It makes them predictable.”

And predictable is what keeps projects from imploding halfway through.

The hidden costs nobody talks about

Here’s what skipping Discovery looks like in practice:

One path leaves you wondering where the money went. The other gives you predictability, flexibility, and choices.

Speaking Ruslan’s words, “better to spend $4K on Discovery and have a clear understanding of when everything will be ready, how much money you need for the final version, and how to balance features, releases, and value. Than to start fast, build ‘everything under the sun,’ burn most of your budget, and freeze the project midway. Because now you can’t launch (you built everything at once, and it’s all half-done) and you can’t continue (budget’s gone).”

Discovery isn’t an expense. It’s your insurance.

What founders think they know – and what they don’t (sorry, but we must point this out)

Most founders are deeply embedded in their business. You’ve lived with this idea for months, maybe years. You understand your users, your competitors, and your market.

And honestly? That’s often true.

Ruslan notes: “Usually, founders are very involved in their business and already in the context of what we’re researching. So it’s never like the founder painted one picture and we drew a completely different one.”

But here’s the thing: knowing what you want doesn’t mean knowing how it gets built – or whether it’s even possible within your budget. And that’s why you’re contacting us in the first place, right? You need our expertise to help you navigate this stuff.

Discovery doesn’t replace your vision. It lets us apply our team leads’ 7+ years of experience to stress-test your vision against technical reality:

• Can the backend handle this feature? 
• Does this user flow actually make sense when you map it out? 
• If we build it this way, does it still fit your timeline and budget?

You might want Feature X. However, if Feature X needs significant backend work, suddenly you’re choosing: simplify the feature, delay other features, or add budget. Discovery is where you make that choice – not three months into development when it’s too late to pivot cheaply.

So, what you actually get from Discovery

At the end of the discovery phase with Phenomenon, you walk away with:

1. Product and technical documentation

This is your product’s blueprint. It details every feature, how it works, what it does for users, and the technical requirements to build it. Think of it as the single source of truth that keeps designers, developers, and stakeholders aligned. No more “I thought we agreed on X” conversations – it’s all documented.

2. User flow diagrams

Every path a user can take through your product, mapped out visually. From signup to checkout, from onboarding to account settings – we chart how users move, where they might get stuck, and how each interaction connects. These flows reveal gaps, redundancies, and opportunities you might not see in a features list.

3. Technical solutions & business logic

For each feature, we define more of how it actually works, rather than just what it looks like. What happens when a user clicks “Generate”, “Pay now”, or “Simulate”? What business rules, validations, and permissions apply? How should the system behave in different scenarios or handle edge cases?

This is where we connect your product vision to the functional requirements and business logic that make each feature work as intended.

4. Architecture decisions

How is the system structured? What technologies, frameworks, and integrations will we use? What DevOps infrastructure, security protocols, data modeling, and compliance standards (HIPAA, GDPR, ISO) need to be implemented?  How will different parts of the product communicate?

Architecture and integration decisions impact everything: performance, scalability, cost, and how easy it is to add features later.

5. Final project estimate (by release or full scope)

A detailed breakdown of what it will cost to build your product, either in phases (MVP, Release 2, Release 3) or as a complete scope, based on documented features, defined flows, and locked-in architecture.

Ruslan adds: “During the discovery phase, we research users, research competitors, create user flows, define architecture, write product and technical specs, and deliver an accurate estimate.”

Anatolii clarifies that last point: “I’d say not ‘accurate’, but much more accurate than the initial ballpark. Because the Business Analyst and Solution Architect keep working as we describe features in detail, and something always comes up that neither the client mentioned nor we thought of because we didn’t fully understand the client’s vision yet.”

Fair. Discovery doesn’t eliminate all surprises. But it eliminates most of them. And the ones that do come up? You find them early, when fixing them is cheap.

The $4K–$10K you don’t spend now could cost you 10x later. Is that smart?

Let’s talk about the math.

Discovery typically starts at $4K–$6K for high-level, simpler products. For complex platforms with multiple integrations or advanced features, it can reach $10K or more. Either way, let’s imagine you decide to skip it and save.

Here’s what happens next: You start building without a clear roadmap or requirements. Three months in, you realize some of the designed features need reworking because the backend can’t support them. Now the team is telling you the fixes require extra hours and around $40K–$60K to finish.

Anatolii puts it bluntly: “Skipping Discovery isn’t savings – it’s the opposite. By not spending this amount now, you risk spending 10x during development. Why? Because critical details surface too late. Maybe you needed a custom-built solution but didn’t specify it upfront, so the team integrated a third-party tool that doesn’t actually fit your business. By then, you’re stuck with a brutal choice: freeze the project or throw in extra money to finish it.“

Think again: you’re trying to save $4K–$10K, only to pay $40K–$60K (or even more) later or shut the project down.

We’ve seen both scenarios. Neither is pretty.

For founders with limited budgets, we offer a lite version of Discovery: same stages, less detail. Risks remain, but they’re significantly reduced.

Still, full Discovery is the version that actually protects you.

Discovery workshop isn’t optional for us – and here’s why that matters to you

Ruslan is direct about this: “If we’re fully responsible for the result – actually launching the product – we never start without Discovery. Discovery isn’t about whether you know what you want. It’s about documenting everything and understanding whether it’s even possible within your budget. You can build anything. The question is cost and feasibility.”

He continues: “People who refuse Discovery aren’t really our target audience. Also, I notice they often come back later with a product they want to redo – and by then, they’ve learned the value of Discovery and don’t object to it.”

We’ve taken a stance: we don’t skip Discovery on projects where we’re responsible for the outcome. Not because we want to add line items to invoices. Because we’ve seen what happens when teams skip it – and we refuse to put our name on that kind of failure.

If you’re looking for an agency that’ll just say “yes” and start building whatever you describe, we’re probably not the right fit. 

But if you want a partner who’ll help you launch something that actually works – within budget, on a realistic timeline – then it matters. Discovery is how we protect both of us.

Trust professionals who own your success as much as you do

“Trust professionals. You don’t tell your dentist how to treat your teeth, right? You come in, say what hurts, and they propose a treatment plan. Same with product development. Tell us your pain, tell us your budget, and we’ll launch an MVP that matches both,” Ruslan highlights.

So, if you want:

• Predictable timelines
• Locked-in budgets
• A product that actually launches
• Fewer rewrites, surprises, and late-night panic calls

Then yes. You need Discovery.

And one more thing: Your success is our success. If your product fails because we didn’t plan it properly, we failed. And we don’t like failing.

We’d rather have the conversation now. The one where we map everything out, stress-test your assumptions, align on what’s possible, and lock in a plan that actually works. Than the conversation later. The one where we explain why the budget doubled, the timeline slipped, and half your features need to be cut just to launch.

Thanks for understanding. And if this resonates with you, let’s talk through your project.