What Happens After You Say Yes - The Software Development Process Explained
You have evaluated proposals, picked a development partner, and signed the contract. The deposit is paid. Now you are staring at your inbox wondering what happens next. If this is your first time commissioning custom software, the process can feel like a black box - you put money in one end and hope a working product comes out the other.
It does not have to be that way. The software development process follows a well-established sequence of phases. Each phase has specific goals, deliverables, and places where your input is critical. Here is what to expect from the moment you say yes to the day your application goes live.
Phase 1: Discovery - 1 to 2 Weeks
Discovery is where the development team turns your brief into a shared understanding of what is being built and why. This is not a formality - it is one of the most valuable phases of the entire project. Skipping it or rushing through it is the single most reliable way to guarantee problems later.
What Happens During Discovery
- Stakeholder interviews - the team talks to everyone who will use or be affected by the software
- Requirements refinement - turning high-level features into specific user stories with acceptance criteria
- Technical assessment - evaluating integrations, data migration needs, and infrastructure requirements
- Risk identification - spotting potential blockers before they become expensive problems
- Project roadmap creation - breaking the work into phases with milestones and delivery dates
Your role during discovery: be available. The team will have a lot of questions, and fast answers keep the phase on schedule. Expect 2-4 hours of meetings during this period plus ad-hoc questions via Slack or email.
Discovery is the cheapest place to find and fix problems. A misunderstanding caught in week one costs a conversation. The same misunderstanding caught in month three costs a sprint.
Phase 2: Design - 2 to 4 Weeks
Design runs in two tracks: UX design (how the application works) and UI design (how it looks). Some teams run these in parallel, others sequentially. Either way, the output is a set of high-fidelity mockups or an interactive prototype that shows exactly what the final product will look and feel like.
The Typical Design Sequence
- Information architecture - organizing content, navigation, and user flows
- Wireframes - low-fidelity layouts showing screen structure without visual styling
- Client review and iteration on wireframes
- Visual design - applying brand colors, typography, spacing, and imagery to approved wireframes
- Interactive prototype - a clickable version you can test with real users
- Final design approval and handoff to development
Your role during design: provide feedback quickly and decisively. Design is iterative - expect 2-3 rounds of revisions. But each round should narrow, not expand. If round three introduces entirely new ideas that were not discussed in rounds one or two, the timeline will slip.
Common surprise: design takes longer than expected. Clients often assume design is a quick step before "the real work" starts. In reality, getting the design right is the real work for this phase. Rushing it means the development team builds the wrong thing faster.
Phase 3: Development - 6 to 16 Weeks
This is where code gets written. Most modern teams work in sprints - typically 2-week cycles where the team builds, tests, and delivers a working increment of the product. At the end of each sprint, you see what was built, test it, and provide feedback that feeds into the next sprint.
A Typical Sprint Cycle
- Sprint planning (Monday) - the team selects work from the backlog and commits to delivering it
- Daily standups - 15-minute check-ins to surface blockers
- Development and testing throughout the sprint
- Sprint review (end of sprint) - the team demos what was built
- Retrospective - the team identifies what to improve in the next sprint
Your role during development: attend sprint reviews, test the working software, and provide feedback within 24-48 hours. You do not need to attend daily standups unless you want to. The sprint review is where your input matters most.
Common surprise: the first sprint does not produce a shiny product. Sprint one often focuses on infrastructure - setting up the database, authentication, deployment pipeline, and core architecture. The visible features usually start appearing in sprint two or three. This is normal and necessary.
Phase 4: Quality Assurance - 2 to 4 Weeks
QA runs throughout development (each sprint includes testing), but the final phase is a dedicated push to catch everything that slipped through. This includes functional testing, cross-browser testing, performance testing, security review, and accessibility checks.
- Functional testing - does every feature work as specified?
- Edge case testing - what happens with unexpected inputs, empty states, and error conditions?
- Performance testing - does the application handle the expected load?
- Security testing - are there vulnerabilities in authentication, data handling, or API endpoints?
- Cross-browser and device testing - does it work on Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and mobile devices?
- Accessibility audit - can users with disabilities operate the application?
Your role during QA: participate in user acceptance testing (UAT). This is where you and your team use the application as if it were live and report anything that does not match expectations. Be thorough - it is far cheaper to fix issues now than after launch.
Phase 5: Launch - 1 to 2 Weeks
Launch is not a single event - it is a process. A responsible development team will plan the launch in stages to minimize risk.
- Final deployment to production environment
- Data migration (if replacing an existing system)
- DNS and SSL configuration
- Monitoring and alerting setup
- Soft launch to a small group of users for final validation
- Full launch with monitoring for the first 48-72 hours
- Handoff documentation and training sessions
Common surprise: launch day is anticlimactic. If the team has done their job well, launch day is smooth and uneventful. The drama happens in the days after launch when real users start using the application in ways nobody anticipated. A good team stays on call for the first week to handle any issues that surface.
Phase 6: Post-Launch - Ongoing
The application is live - now what? Post-launch typically includes a warranty period (2-4 weeks where bug fixes are included at no additional cost), performance monitoring, and planning for the next iteration based on user feedback.
Plan for a post-launch sprint 2-4 weeks after going live. By then you will have collected real user feedback and usage data. The changes users actually need are often different from the V2 features you imagined before launch. Let the data guide your roadmap.
The Five Most Common Surprises and How to Handle Them
- It takes longer than you expected - build 20% buffer into every timeline and protect it
- The first version looks rough - early sprints prioritize function over polish, and that is correct
- You change your mind about features - this is fine if caught early, expensive if caught late. Speak up during sprint reviews, not after the sprint ends
- Integrations cause delays - third-party APIs are unpredictable. Ask your team to tackle integrations early so surprises happen when there is time to adjust
- Launch is not the finish line - budget for 2-3 months of post-launch support and iteration. The best products are shaped by real user feedback, not just pre-launch planning
Your Most Important Job as the Client
You do not need to manage the sprint backlog or understand the codebase. Your job is to stay engaged, respond quickly, make decisions when asked, and trust the team to handle the technical execution. The clients who get the best results are the ones who show up to every sprint review, give honest feedback, and resist the urge to redesign the product mid-build.
Software development is a collaboration. The more clearly you communicate your goals and constraints, the better the team can deliver. Now you know what to expect at each step - use that knowledge to be the kind of client every development team wants to work with.
