The recommended approach: Focus on the MVP: Perfection isn't always the goal—especially in the early stages. Instead, concentrate on developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that captures the core functionality. This allows you to balance the need for an idiomatic ecosystem with the necessity of a production-ready product. Scale-Up Plan: Implement a scale-up plan that aligns with your risk management strategy. As the project progresses, iterative delivery enables you to increase quality standards step by step. By combining these two strategies, you can strike a balance between delivering a functional, reliable product and staying within budget, allowing for incremental improvements as the project evolves.

Prioritizing critical quality aspects and adopting a risk-based approach. Focus resources on key areas that impact project outcomes most. Implement efficient testing practices and automation where possible.

This is a tough one! I would say a clear scope helps. Any additions may require budgetary increase. But that’s easier said than done. Even MVP got bloated. So if client agrees, that’s good. If they don’t, sometimes we vendors compromise. Some other times we don’t. Both sides must come together and agree on a long term mentality and approach. Bottom line is: We build relationship as well, not just software. Engage in frequent dialogue.

That's a good question! No client/stakeholder wants to sacrifice quality, but budgetary constraints always exist. A way to go, is to introduce certain metrics, such as the number of test cases in the test plan, or the number of unit tests written, or the amount of time the team may spend on specific QA activities. Also, defining certain QA processes, Definition of Done, and other team agreements helps to manage quality expectations and set boundaries of QA taking into account budget constraints.