Bad scoping starts with vague problems. These questions turn a founder call into a buildable brief.
Worksheet
- Who uses this weekly? Who approves outcomes?
- What triggers the workflow today?
- What systems hold data (CRM, sheets, product DB)?
- What does done look like in 30 days?
- What must never happen (compliance, data leaks)?
- What integrations are must-have vs nice-to-have?
- How will you measure success?
- What is the budget band and deadline?
- Who owns the code and hosting after launch?
- What is explicitly out of scope for v1?
- What happens if a third-party API is down?
- What is the one demo that wins the next customer?
After the call
Send a one-page scope with acceptance criteria. If you cannot write acceptance criteria, the build is not ready.
Use this as a working checklist inside your team first. When the same steps repeat every week and spreadsheets start breaking, that is usually the moment to scope one workflow, one user group, one measurable outcome and a fixed handover plan as an owned system. See the relevant Standen service · More guides · SaaS ops audit.