Requesting new features for your app

Asking for new or different features in your app can be easier in some cases more than others. If you took our advice in Fixed Price vs. Time and Materials this just comes down to normal courtesy, politeness, and thinking things through. If you didn’t take our advice and signed a SoW with a strict, fixed scope, then this can be a huge issue which needs to be navigated carefully. Regardless, the process starts out the same, and it starts out with you.

Step one: Customer discovery

Do you really need this change? Have you validated it with your customers? How important is it to make this change? Making changes in the middle of a project can be dangerous, so doing at least some light research into how much you need to make the change is critical.

Step two: Business discovery

How hard is it to make this change? How much time will it take? How much will it cost? Businesses can often be surprised by how much work and money it takes to make what may seem to them to be a relatively simple change. Make sure you discuss such things with your development provider to determine what kind of complexity you’re dealing with, as this often affects whether you want to commit to it.

Step three: Timing the work

You’ve decided that you definitely need to make this change, and you’re comfortable with the difficulty level. Now the question is, when do you do it? Sometimes changes make more sense to do later, and occasionally even after launch of the product. It may also be easier to make the change after some other work is completed, which could save you time and money in the long run. As before, communicate with your development provider to fit the change into your development schedule.

Step four: Contract considerations (optional)

If you have a fixed price project, you’ll want to amend your SOW or, potentially, get a new SOW altogether if the change is large enough. This is one of the downsides to fixed price projects, since a) lawyers are expensive, and you may need one to review the new scope, and b) if the change needs to happen immediately, this process can really slow down development.

Every project will involve changes in scope and features, so keep this in mind when you’re considering signing a contract with a fixed scope, as it won’t truly reflect the reality of development. Regardless, if you follow these steps, requesting new features and changes to existing features will go much more smoothly for everyone involved.