What is a prestudy process – and why does it matter?
Many digital initiatives start with a clear idea. A missing feature, a system that needs replacing, or a new offering to be built. There is often a strong desire to get started quickly. At the same time, it is rarely fully clear what actually needs to be built, how it should be built, or what the longer-term consequences of different choices might be. That is where a prestudy becomes relevant.
Tobias Rydenhag
Head of Design
Why prestudies are often misunderstood
Prestudiess are sometimes associated with analysis, documentation, and decisions that are made later anyway. They can feel like something you go through, rather than something that truly moves the work forward.
When a prestudy does not lead to clearer priorities or concrete direction, it easily becomes a side track. At that point, it feels more like preparation than real work.
The prestudy as a decision foundation – and the first step of delivery
For us at Intunio, a prestudy is not something that sits alongside development. It is the first step in an actual delivery effort. The goal is not to find the perfect answer, but to create enough clarity to make sound decisions and build forward from them.
A prestudy is therefore not a commitment to development, but a way to reduce uncertainty before making larger investments. It should make the next step easier, not heavier.
That means both design and engineering are involved from the start. The prestudy focuses as much on technical constraints, architectural options, and platform choices as it does on needs, goals, and usage.
Concrete sketches you can build on
In a prestudy, we often create design sketches for key views or central parts of the solution. Not to finalise design, but to make ideas and trade-offs tangible.
These sketches are not exercises or presentation material. They are the beginning of artefacts that can later be evolved in design and code. They allow discussions around functionality, structure, and technology to happen on shared, concrete ground.
In parallel, technical decisions around architecture, technology choices, and feasibility are explored. Design ideas and technical decisions evolve together, not separately. This reduces the risk of late surprises and makes subsequent steps more predictable.
A solid foundation for continued development
The outcome of a prestudy is rarely a finished answer. What it does provide is something that can be taken forward into real development.
This may be a clearly scoped first version, better prioritisation, or more realistic estimates of time and effort. In some cases, it leads directly into development. In others, it supports a deliberate decision to wait or change direction.
Clarity before committing
For us at Intunio, prestudies are not always necessary. When the problem space and constraints are already well understood, it can be right to move straight into development.
But when uncertainty is high, a prestudy is often an inexpensive way to avoid costly mistakes. It makes it easier to say yes, no, or not now, based on better information than before.
When it works as intended, it leaves behind both direction and a starting point. Not just something that has been completed, but something you can continue to build on.