Services
Product Planning & Development
From idea to shipped product — discovery, scoping, design, and build handled by one team that has done it before as founders, not just developers.
What is product planning and development?
Product planning and development combines the strategic work of defining what to build with the technical work of building it. Code and Trust runs product discovery sessions to validate assumptions, produces user story maps and technical specs, then builds iteratively with weekly demos. This approach reduces wasted development effort by an average of 40% versus jumping straight into code.
Who is product planning for?
Product planning engagements are right when the risk isn't in the technology — it's in building the wrong thing. Founders with ideas but no technical co-founder, internal teams without a dedicated product manager, and companies that ran over budget on a previous build all share the same root problem: unclear scope before development started.
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Founders with an idea but no technical co-founder to validate feasibility and scope
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Internal product teams building a new product without a dedicated product manager
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Companies that tried building once and ran over budget due to scope that was never clearly defined
What does a product planning engagement include?
An EdTech founder came with a concept and 6-page requirements doc. A 3-day discovery workshop revealed 60% of the planned features weren't needed for the core value proposition. Rebuilt scope around 4 core user jobs. MVP shipped in 10 weeks. 400 users in the first 30 days.
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Product discovery workshops (3–5 day intensive with key stakeholders)
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User story mapping and requirements documentation
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Technical feasibility assessment — what can be built in the time and budget you have
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UI/UX wireframes and interactive prototypes in Figma
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Fixed-price MVP development with weekly working demos
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Post-launch iteration planning and roadmap
Tools and technologies we use
Product planning uses the same development stack as all Code and Trust projects — Next.js, React, Python, PostgreSQL — so the discovery output maps directly to the build scope with no translation cost. Figma for design, Notion for living documentation, and Linear for sprint-level project tracking through the build phase.
Frequently asked questions
The most common questions before a product planning engagement: what to do if you don't have a spec, whether we work with existing designers, how scope creep is prevented, whether we work with VC-backed startups, and what the minimum engagement size is.
What if I don't have a clear spec yet?
That's why product planning exists. We run a structured discovery process that produces a user story map, technical specification, and fixed-price proposal. You don't need to know what you want built — you need to know the problem you're solving.
Can you work with an existing product designer?
Yes. If you have a designer producing Figma files, we build from those. If you don't, we provide UI/UX design as part of the engagement.
How do you prevent scope creep?
We agree on a signed scope document before development starts. Every requested change outside that scope is evaluated: is it free (a clarification of intent) or a change order (new requirement)? We're transparent about which is which.
Do you work with venture-backed startups?
Yes. We understand runway constraints and can stage deliverables to align with funding milestones. We've built products for seed-stage and Series A companies.
What's the minimum engagement size?
Product discovery workshops start at $12K (3 days, deliverable: user story map + technical spec + proposal). MVP builds start at $35K.
Start with discovery — not code.
A 3-day discovery workshop produces a user story map, technical specification, and fixed-price proposal. Discovery starts at $12K.