Project Scoping & Phased Development

MVP Strategy & Philosophy

MVP Approach: Platform MVP with Operational Excellence Focus

CurryDash’s MVP prioritizes operational capability over feature breadth. The strategy is to enable vendors to serve customers reliably while admins maintain platform quality - a “functioning marketplace” rather than a “feature-complete platform.”

Philosophy Rationale:

Brownfield Advantage: Existing StackFood codebase provides 80% of infrastructure
Vendor-First Launch: 50+ active vendors needed before customer marketing
Quality Over Quantity: Cultural authenticity positioning requires careful vendor onboarding
Subscription Foundation: Package system (CPFP) is the differentiator - must work flawlessly

MVP Success Definition: “A vendor can register, create curry pack menus, receive orders, and get paid. An admin can approve vendors, monitor quality, and resolve issues. A customer can discover, order, subscribe, and receive food.”

MVP Feature Boundaries

Essential User Journeys Supported (MVP):

Journey	MVP Coverage	Deferred Features
Dilan (Established Vendor)	Menu mgmt, orders, basic analytics	Advanced forecasting, multi-location
Amara (New Vendor)	Registration, onboarding, first order	Video assessment automation
Kasun (Vendor Staff)	Order dashboard, status workflow	Kitchen display integration
Sarah (Admin Operations)	Vendor review, quality monitoring	Automated alerts, predictive scoring
Raj (Support Agent)	Basic ticket queue, refunds	Full case management, knowledge base
David (Super Admin)	User/role mgmt, basic exports	Custom report builder, advanced audit
Nisha (Accountant)	Financial reports, GST exports	Batch downloads, multi-vendor view

Must-Have Capabilities (Phase 1):

Vendor Portal (CAR):

Self-service registration with document upload
Restaurant profile management (hours, zones, details)
Package configuration builder (curry pack setup)
Menu management (food items, categories, add-ons)
Real-time order dashboard with accept/prepare/ready workflow
Basic analytics (orders, revenue, ratings summary)
Notification system (new orders, status updates)

Admin Dashboard (CAD):

Vendor application queue with approval/rejection
Vendor profile view and status management
Order monitoring with search and filters
Customer complaint queue (basic resolution)
Platform analytics dashboard (daily/weekly KPIs)
User and role management (RBAC)

Backend APIs (CUR):

All 70 frontend PRD functional requirements
Authentication (JWT for mobile, session for dashboards)
Package and subscription endpoints
Payment processing (Stripe integration)
Push notification triggers

Phased Development Roadmap

Phase 1: MVP (Production Readiness)

Category	Features	Priority
Vendor Onboarding	Registration, documents, approval workflow	P0
Menu Management	Food CRUD, package configuration, availability	P0
Order Management	Dashboard, status workflow, notifications	P0
Admin Operations	Vendor management, order monitoring, complaints	P0
API Layer	All frontend FR support, authentication, payments	P0
Analytics	Basic metrics (orders, revenue, ratings)	P1

Phase 2: Growth (Post-Launch Enhancement)

Category	Features	Priority
Advanced Analytics	Trend analysis, benchmarking, forecasting	P1
Vendor Tools	Bulk operations, promotional campaigns, customer messaging	P1
Admin Efficiency	Bulk actions, automated alerts, quality audit workflows	P1
Support Tooling	Full case management, knowledge base, escalation paths	P2
Financial Features	Reconciliation, payout management, batch exports	P2

Phase 3: Expansion (Market Leadership)

Category	Features	Priority
Multi-Language	Sinhalese, Tamil content management	P2
Geographic Expansion	Multi-region support, additional suburbs	P2
Cultural Features	Heritage storytelling, authenticity verification	P3
Enterprise	Multi-location vendor support, white-label options	P3
AI/Automation	Demand forecasting, auto quality control, smart routing	P3

Resource Requirements

MVP Team Composition:

Role	Count	Responsibilities
Tech Lead / Senior Laravel Dev	1	Architecture decisions, code review, complex features
Backend Developer	1-2	Feature implementation, API development, testing
Frontend Developer	0.5	Blade template updates, admin UI improvements
QA Engineer	0.5	Manual testing, regression, UAT coordination
Product Manager	0.5	Requirements clarification, stakeholder alignment
DevOps	0.25	Deployment, monitoring, infrastructure

Skills Required:

Laravel 9.x expertise (Eloquent, Passport, Blade)
PHP 8.1+ proficiency
MySQL optimization and query tuning
REST API design and documentation
Payment gateway integration (Stripe)
Git workflow and code review practices

Risk Mitigation Strategy

Technical Risks:

Risk	Impact	Mitigation
No test coverage (0%)	High	Implement critical path tests first; cover order and payment flows
Monolithic CentralLogics	Medium	Incremental service extraction; don’t refactor during MVP
No queue system	Medium	Accept synchronous operations for MVP; add queues for Phase 2
Performance at scale	Medium	Add caching for hot paths (restaurant lists, menu data)

Market Risks:

Risk	Impact	Mitigation
Vendor adoption slow	High	Focus on 10-15 pilot vendors for soft launch; white-glove onboarding
Competition from majors	Medium	Emphasize cultural niche; avoid head-to-head feature competition
Subscription model confusion	Medium	Clear UI differentiation between one-time and subscription orders

Resource Risks:

Risk	Impact	Mitigation
Key developer unavailable	High	Document architecture decisions; maintain comprehensive docs
Scope creep	High	Strict MVP boundary enforcement; defer “nice-to-haves” aggressively
Timeline pressure	Medium	Prioritize vendor-facing features; admin polish can follow

Contingency Plan (Reduced Resources): If resources are limited, prioritize:

Vendor order management (must transact)
Admin vendor approval (must onboard)
Basic analytics (must measure)
Advanced features (defer entirely)