In a previous blog post about the Discovery Phase, we explained what it takes to determine the 'why and what’ of a new platform to be built and the four steps that need to be taken. In short, this involves shaping the business- and product vision within the context of the organization, followed by creating the Story Map with user journeys and the Product Backlog with the concrete functionalities in order of priority.

In this blog post, we are zooming in on the sessions that rb2 conducts with companies to lay the technical foundation for a successful new platform during the Discovery Phase. In four in-depth workshops, it becomes clear what the architecture will look like at different levels. The goal is to create a technical design of the new platform, including its associated components and integrations.

In-depth Workshops during the Discovery Phase

Domain Events
This workshop maps out the architecture needed to facilitate 'events' such as products, orders, and customer information. This includes adding, modifying, and removing these attributes. We will take a look at the role that existing and new systems have in each process and the effects on the performance of the platform.

Technical Architecture & Integrations
In this session, we will focus on what the technical architecture looks like and which systems should communicate with each other and which ones shouldn’t. It is important to know in advance which integrations are needed. Which integrations can be realized via an API, and which ones need to be custom-built? The answers to these questions determine how much time and budget are needed to deliver the architecture with the integrated applications.

If headless commerce solutions from Bigcommerce, Commercetools or SCAYLE are chosen, rb2’s CoreConnect offers a framework with which an MVP can be launched within a few weeks.

Integration Architecture
In the 'integration architecture' workshop, we take a detailed look at integrations with the custom components from the existing landscape that are being retained on the new platform. These components typically play a significant role in the business processes of organizations.

Infrastructure and Data Migration
Finally, we dedicate time to the IT infrastructure and the migration of data from the old to the new platform. What types of data, applications, and databases are involved? How do we ensure effective data migration? And which partners do we need to collaborate with to do this successfully? All of these questions are answered in this session.

Way of working

As an organization, it is advisable to align with the development agency at the beginning of a platform project on how the collaboration can best proceed to achieve the desired result.

At rb2, we work based on the Scaled Agile Framework and prefer to work with 'scrummers' on the client side. Beforehand, we specify who has the leadership and responsibility in which phase of the development project. Collaboration with third parties – in terms of design, marketing, reviewing, and testing systems – is an important part of this, as our development work depends on the efforts, durations, and processes of these external parties.

We often work with a Proof of Concept, where we can quickly demonstrate a working new platform – with limited functionalities. With our client Gadero, we were able to show a system within a few months on which one of the most complex user journeys and important integrations – between rb2's CoreConnect, Contentful, and Commercetools – were operational.

Do you want to know more about our Discovery Phase? Take a look at our Discovery Phase page.