- ✓A feasibility study is a systematic assessment of whether a proposed software project is viable and worthwhile before significant resources are committed to it, typically covering technical, economic, operational, legal and scheduling feasibility.
- ✓Economic feasibility involves assessing whether the expected benefits of the project justify its costs, typically using techniques such as cost-benefit analysis, return on investment calculation and break-even analysis.
- ✓Technical feasibility examines whether the proposed solution can be built with available technology, skills and infrastructure, identifying technical risks and constraints that could jeopardise the project.
- ✓Operational feasibility assesses whether the proposed system will be accepted and used effectively by the people it is intended to serve, considering factors such as workflow impact, training requirements and change readiness.
- ✓A rigorous feasibility study protects organisations from committing to projects that are unlikely to succeed: the cost of a thorough feasibility assessment is almost always far less than the cost of a failed development project.
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Start learning →Alex: Welcome back to The Study Podcast. Today we're looking at the feasibility study, which is the process that happens before a software development project really gets underway. Sam, why is this such an important step?
Sam: Because building software is expensive, takes time and carries risk. The feasibility study is the investment in thinking carefully before committing the much larger investment of actually building something. It sounds obvious when you put it that way, but you'd be surprised how many projects are launched without any serious assessment of whether they're viable, and the consequences of that are consistently poor.
Alex: What are the different types of feasibility that need to be assessed?
Sam: There are typically five dimensions. Technical feasibility asks whether the proposed solution can actually be built with available technology, skills and infrastructure. Can we do this technically? Are there any aspects of what's being proposed that are beyond current technology or beyond the capabilities of the available team? Economic feasibility asks whether the expected benefits justify the costs. Is this a sensible investment? Will the value delivered exceed the cost of building and maintaining it? Operational feasibility asks whether the proposed solution will actually be used and will work effectively within the organisation's processes and culture. Schedule feasibility asks whether the project can realistically be completed in the time available. And legal feasibility asks whether there are any regulatory, contractual or intellectual property issues that affect the viability of the proposed solution.
Alex: How do you assess economic feasibility? What techniques are used?
Sam: The most common approach is cost-benefit analysis: listing all the expected costs, including development, implementation, training, maintenance and opportunity costs, and all the expected benefits, which may include cost savings, revenue increases and risk reduction. Where benefits are difficult to quantify, you can use techniques like break-even analysis to determine at what point the benefits outweigh the costs, and return on investment calculation to express the net benefit as a percentage of the investment. The important discipline is being honest about uncertainty: projections of future costs and benefits are inherently uncertain and should be treated as ranges rather than precise figures.
Alex: What happens when a feasibility study concludes that a project isn't feasible?
Sam: That's actually the most valuable outcome possible, because it prevents a much larger waste of resources. But it requires intellectual honesty, because by the time a feasibility study is commissioned there's often already significant political momentum behind the project. The people who commissioned the study may want validation rather than a genuine assessment. The professional integrity to deliver an honest negative conclusion when the evidence supports it is a mark of real maturity as a digital professional.
Alex: And if the study concludes it is feasible, does it just proceed?
Sam: Usually the study will identify conditions: it's feasible if certain technical risks can be mitigated, or feasible for a reduced scope, or feasible within a certain cost envelope. These conditions become the basis for the project brief and inform the detailed planning that follows. A good feasibility study doesn't just answer yes or no: it maps the path to viability.
Alex: Really practical. Thanks, Sam. We'll look at Agile versus Waterfall in depth next.