The Web Development Process Explained: From Brief to Launch for Non-Technical Founders
The Web Development Process Explained: From Brief to Launch for Non-Technical Founders
One of the most common sources of project failure is the communication gap between founders and development teams. Founders feel left in the dark; developers feel bombarded with scope changes. Both problems originate from the same source: the founder doesn't have a working model of how software gets built.
This guide gives you that model.
Phase 1: Discovery and Requirements (1–2 weeks)
What happens: The development team maps your goals, constraints, and existing landscape in detail.
Key activities:
- Stakeholder interviews to capture both explicit requirements and underlying goals
- User persona definition: who uses this, how often, with what level of technical sophistication?
- Competitor and reference analysis
- Technical environment assessment: integrations required, existing systems, compliance requirements
- Scope definition and prioritisation
What you need to contribute: Availability for structured interviews, access to any existing systems or documentation, clear prioritisation when trade-offs arise.
Output: A requirements document (SRS), user story backlog, and project scope agreement.
Red flag: Any agency that skips discovery and moves directly to design. What they build will be technically correct and functionally wrong.
Phase 2: Architecture and Technical Design (1–2 weeks)
What happens: Engineers design the system — not the visual design, but the underlying structure.
Key decisions:
- Technology stack selection (framework, database, hosting, authentication provider)
- API design and data schema
- Third-party integrations and dependencies
- Security and compliance architecture
- Deployment and infrastructure design
Why this matters for you: Architecture decisions made here are expensive to reverse later. A founder who understands that "should we use a relational or document database?" is a genuine design question — not a technical distraction — contributes better to this phase.
Output: Technical architecture document, infrastructure diagram, API specification.
Phase 3: UI/UX Design (1–3 weeks, parallel with Phase 2)
What happens: Designers produce wireframes (structural layouts) and high-fidelity mockups (visual designs).
Iteration process:
- Low-fidelity wireframes establish information architecture and user flows
- Review and revision to validate structure before investing in visual design
- High-fidelity mockups in Figma with accurate typography, colour, and component design
- Interactive prototype for key user flows
Common founder mistake: Requesting visual polish on wireframes. Wireframes are disposable — the goal is structure validation, not aesthetics. Final design comes in the high-fidelity stage.
Phase 4: Development (4–16 weeks depending on scope)
What happens: Engineers build the product in iterative sprints, typically 1–2 weeks each.
What to expect:
- Weekly or bi-weekly sprint demos on a live staging environment
- A link to the staging URL where you can see and test progress in real time
- Sprint reviews where you prioritise the next iteration
- Ongoing communication through a shared project management tool (Linear, Jira, or Notion)
Your responsibility: Provide feedback promptly. Delayed feedback delays the sprint. Vague feedback ("make it more modern") wastes sprint time. Specific feedback ("the dashboard header is too large on mobile, reduce to 48px") is actionable.
Phase 5: QA and Testing (1–3 weeks)
What happens: The application is tested systematically before production deployment.
Testing types:
- Unit tests: Individual functions and components tested in isolation
- Integration tests: Components tested together — does the payment flow work end-to-end?
- Browser/device compatibility testing: Chrome, Safari, Firefox; iOS, Android; various screen sizes
- Performance testing: Load time, Core Web Vitals, behaviour under concurrent users
- Security review: OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, authentication, data exposure
UAT (User Acceptance Testing): You — or designated team members — test the staging environment against the original requirements. Formal sign-off before launch.
Phase 6: Deployment and Launch
What happens: The application moves from staging to production.
Launch checklist:
- DNS configuration and SSL certificate
- Environment variables and secrets management
- Monitoring and alerting setup (uptime, error rates, performance)
- Backup and disaster recovery procedures
- Analytics (GA4, Mixpanel) configured and tested
Post-launch warranty: At Minderfly, every project includes a 30-day warranty period. Bugs attributable to our work are fixed at no additional cost.
Phase 7: Maintenance and Evolution
Software is never finished. A launched product requires:
- Security patches and dependency updates (monthly)
- Performance monitoring and optimisation
- Bug fixes from real-world usage
- Feature development based on user feedback
Options: Monthly retainer (predictable cost, ongoing relationship), time-and-materials for ad hoc work, or a dedicated team for large ongoing products.
Minderfly operates across all seven phases. We work with founders who are building for the first time and with technical teams that need additional capacity. Request a discovery call to start the conversation.
