Most projects that come to us start as a voice note, a slide deck or a sketch on a napkin. Before we write a line of code, we spend two focused days with the client turning that idea into something a team can actually build. Here is what happens inside our discovery workshop, who is in the room and what you walk away with.
Who is in the room
We keep the group small, usually six to eight people, so everyone speaks. Sessions run in our Dubai office, at the client’s premises or online, with any engineers who cannot attend joining by video when we are in person.
Before the first session, we send a short questionnaire and ask for anything useful you already have, such as brand guidelines, sample data, competitor examples or a rough budget. Twenty minutes of homework on your side means we spend the workshop on decisions rather than background.
- From your side: the decision-maker, a product or operations owner, and ideally someone who talks to customers every day.
- From ours: a product lead who facilitates, a UX designer and a senior engineer who checks feasibility as we go.
- Optional guests: finance or IT staff when payments, ERP links or compliance are involved.
The two-day agenda
Day one: the problem and the people
We start with goals and constraints: what success looks like in a year, the budget range and any fixed dates. Then we map users and their journeys on the wall, step by step, and list every pain point. By the afternoon we are prioritising features using a simple must, should, could and later grid.
We also look at what already exists. That might be a competitor’s app, a spreadsheet the operations team relies on, or an old system that needs replacing. Seeing how people really work today often reveals the features that matter most, and just as often the ones that nobody will miss.
Day two: the solution and the plan
Day two turns priorities into shape. Our designer sketches key screens live, the engineer outlines architecture and integrations such as UAE PASS, Telr or a client’s ERP, and we agree what belongs in the first release. We close by walking through risks and open questions together.
Our engineer also flags anything that could affect cost or timing, such as data residency rules, PDPL or UAE data protection obligations, Arabic and English support, or third-party services that need approval. Raising these on day two is far cheaper than discovering them halfway through the build.
Two days of hard questions are far cheaper than two months of building the wrong thing.
What you take away
Within five working days of the workshop, we send a short, readable pack summarising everything we agreed. It belongs to you, so you can use it to build with us, take it to another team or share it with partners and investors.
What happens next
Most clients use the pack to approve a first phase with us, usually an MVP of eight to sixteen weeks, and some take it to their board or investors first. Because the scope is written down, the estimate is a range we can stand behind rather than a guess, and any later change is measured against an agreed baseline.
The workshop is a fixed-fee engagement, and if you go on to build with us, its cost is credited against the first phase. Either way, you finish with clarity, a plan you can defend and a much better sense of whether we are the right team for you.
The bottom line
Our two-day workshop brings the right people together, maps users and priorities, and ends with a scope, roadmap and estimate you own. It is the best way we know to make sure your idea ripens into the right product, and if you are planning something new, it is the conversation we would love to start with.
