A feasibility study analyzes the project from multiple angles to ensure it is practically possible and financially sound. We use the TELOS framework to categorize these checks.
🧩 The TELOS Framework
Category | Key Question | Focus |
|---|---|---|
Technical | Can we build it? | Does the technology exist? Does our team have the skills? |
Economic | Should we build it? | Is there a positive Return on Investment (ROI)? Can we afford it? |
Legal | Are we allowed to build it? | Does it violate any laws, copyrights, or data privacy acts (GDPR)? |
Operational | Will they use it? | How well will the solution solve the problem? Will the users accept it? |
Scheduling | Can we build it in time? | Can the project be completed by the required deadline? |
🔍 Deep Dive into the "Big Three"
1. Technical Feasibility
This evaluates the hardware, software, and human resources available.
Risk: If you want to build an AI that predicts the future with 100% accuracy, the project is technically infeasible because the technology doesn't exist.
Skill Gap: If the project requires Rust but your whole team only knows COBOL, the project may be infeasible unless you hire new talent.
2. Economic Feasibility (Cost-Benefit Analysis)
This is the most critical factor for stakeholders. It compares the Total Cost of Development against the Expected Benefits.
Tangible Benefits: Increased sales, reduced staff costs.
Intangible Benefits: Better brand image, improved customer satisfaction.
Cost: Hardware, software licenses, salaries, training, and maintenance.
3. Operational Feasibility
Even if the software is brilliant, it’s a failure if nobody uses it.
Example: A company builds a complex digital tracking system for a warehouse, but the workers find it too slow and go back to using pen and paper. This project was Operationally Infeasible.
📝 The Feasibility Report
Once the study is complete, a document is produced. It usually ends with one of three recommendations:
Go: The project is feasible; proceed to Requirement Elicitation.
No-Go: The project is impossible or too expensive; scrap it.
Maybe/Modified: The project is feasible only if we change the scope or the technology used.
📊 Why not just skip it?
Skipping the feasibility study often leads to "The Sunk Cost Fallacy." This is when a company spends $500,000 on a failing project and continues to spend more just because they already invested so much, even though the project was doomed from the start.