Depending on the clients needs, if we do have to develop several custom nodes, modules or applications that require initial input and feedback before design is done, we do that too.

So in that respect we do some “chunking” work in our initial sprints. It really depends on the clients needs, and our timeline.

The process described here is a gated approach, one that seems most common in the web site design world.

Given your vast experience in the web design world, what do you find is most challenging with delivering value using this process?

I’ve worked with small teams to try a similar process to yours, but do so in an iterative fashion, so that the client (and hopefully some *real* users) can try out working software (prototype or real deal) and give feedback to direct the next round. In my experience people don’t fully understand what they need or what they’ve asked for, nor does the development team know if they’ve truly delivered the right thing in the right way until the design becomes “real”.

The main challenge with this iterative approach is, well, figuring out how to chunk the work into smaller pieces.