When launching a custom software project, the top priority isn't listing features immediately, but defining business outcomes. Features are the means; outcomes are the reason the project exists.
We recommend clarifying five things in order: goals, core user roles, key workflows, data boundaries, and acceptance criteria. Defining these five elements provides a reliable foundation for subsequent prototyping, quoting, and scheduling.
A goal should be stated as a single verifiable sentence—for example, "Enable store managers to complete inventory reconciliation on the same day," rather than "Build an inventory management system." Roles determine permissions and interfaces, workflows define the system architecture, data boundaries govern security and compliance, and acceptance criteria determine when the project is truly complete.
Requirements can iterate, but every change should clearly explain what problem it solves and what scope it impacts. Documenting this rationale in project files is far more reliable than constantly adding notes in chat threads.