Secrets to Achieve a Fault-proof Software Development Process

Defining an effective software development process is a tough assignment for it makes and breaks your business — and your reputation. Lack of technical and business clarity, inexperienced team, poor planning and execution practices, coding flaws, and inadequate testing are prominent reasons why a software product may fail even before hitting the market. 

Are you seeking a holy grail to cure frequent business failures and the team’s inefficiency to improvise in such situations? If yes, then my friend it’s time to fix old mistakes and ramp up your process of software development. 

In this article, let’s explore a secure software development process that you can use as a standard to identify and mitigate any loopholes in your business’s success and market overreach. So what is the enterprise software development process?

What is the Software Development Process?

The software development process is a systematic approach that aims to develop programmed software to fulfill specific business needs or objectives. This process involves a series of steps such as 

• Selecting a team
• Planning
• Requirement analysis
• Design 
• Development
• Testing
• Deployment
• Maintenance

All in all, the custom software development process is flexible and focuses on building a solution that can fulfill company needs. That’s why the global software development market is estimated to reach $167.00 billion by the end of 2023 and $234.70 billion by 2028.

So here are the steps you should follow for full-fledged fault-proof software development.

8 Steps for the Effective Software Development Process

When it comes to the causes underlying a software disaster, your focus should be on a framework that will assist your people. A software development life cycle consists of steps to develop software that enables the development of high-quality and low-cost software. Let’s discuss the software development steps in detail

Step 1: Know Your Team!

Get the ball rolling with your project by assembling your IT Avengers! You cannot fling yourself into the software development process single-handedly. Assemble a group of experts whose ideas, experience, and knowledge will decorate your empty whiteboard!

Creating a state-of-the-art product demands the attention of a close-knit team. Your team should contain the following key players to form a solid baseline:

• Chief Technology Officer or Project Manager

Initiate your project life cycle by sharing your vision and mission with the chief technology officer (CTO). The CTO manages the details of the project and his role continues throughout the software development process.

• Business Analyst

Be certain that there is a vacant chair for a business analyst (BA) in the room. They will ensure that the product’s functionalities are fit for the market and its changing dynamics!

• Development Team

Dedicated development team members are the specialists playing an influential role in the software development process. Each specialist has a profound knowledge of their domain and can complete complex projects efficiently and quickly.

Step 2: Planning

Software development planning has become a haven for companies. It is the stage of SDLC that thoroughly assesses requirements and drafts a roadmap for the team to follow. The planning process guarantees that you get off to a good start. Attempt to involve all divisions that will be touched by this project, such as project managers, developers, operations, QA, and important stakeholders.

At the end of the planning process, you should have adequate knowledge to create a high-level statement of work (SOW)—a plan explaining what's being created, why, and how you envision it coming together.

To dive further into extensive paperwork, the SOW encapsulates eight project artifacts. They address the necessary measures that the team must take through the software development process:

• Communication Schedule
• Project charter
• RACI Matrix (Responsibility Assignment Matrix )
• Change Request Register
• Gantt Chart (Graphical depiction of a project schedule)
• Project Roadmap
• Risk Register

Step 3: Requirement Analysis

The following phase is to comprehend the project's technical needs. Whether it's an app, a redesigned website, or a new feature. At this stage, develop a Software Requirements Specification (SRS) a document that describes the project functionality, limitations, and goals.

In this phase, don’t forget to assess the stakeholder requirements to plan out the life cycle, budget, and a cunning mitigation plan that weakens the impact of constraints. Once your development team has the answers to their questions, they can begin scoping out technical requirements, testing terminology, and selecting a technological stack in addition to planning the sprints. 

Step 4: Design & Prototype

With the criteria in place, it's time to design how the software will appear and work. It’s all about the utility and flow.

Relying on the software development process you're employing, this step of the SDLC may entail creating simple wireframes. To demonstrate how interactions will function in the software by creating more full-fledged prototypes.

We divide the software design plan into two categories:

• UX Design: It is the design of user experience (UX) and the Graphical User Interface (GUI), often known as Human Machine Interface (HMI). It is what the end-user sees on the screen of the software.

• Technical Design: A software architect from your development team will build a technical and architectural design. It illustrates how the project team will build the software.

Step 5: Development

Once everyone is on board with the software’s proposed design and functionality, it is time to get on the development bandwagon according to SOW's determined requirements.

Development is an extremely complex step that only an exceptionally skilled developer should maneuver towards the end. Whether you choose to work in Agile sprints, develop an MVP, or employ the conventional waterfall methodology. The key is to stick to the SOW. It prevents the risk of scope creep and develops clean and efficient software.  

To maintain high standards, you can organize regular project meetings throughout the software development process. In the case of the Agile software development process flow, a sprint meeting is held after each sprint to discuss what went well and what did not.

Step 6: Testing And Debugging

After the development of the software, it is important to test, track, and fix bugs simultaneously. Nonetheless, once the product is fully developed and functional, you will need to run more detailed and in-depth testing. It can mean releasing the product to a small group of users or using extensive UX tools to track and determine how users interact with it.

While testing can be a lengthy stage of the software development process, it is always important not to ship buggy software to real customers. Bugs, can tarnish your reputation, reduce your revenue, and worst of all, consume hours of development time that you could have utilized to build new features.

InvoZone offers dedicated QA services. Book your free consultation to know more

Step 7: Implementation and Deployment

The implementation and deployment are the stages in which the final product goes live! They start right after the coding is completed, tested, and approved for release. What we are suggesting is to push the code into production and launch your software, whether it is a website, mobile application, or ERP system. 

A systematic manner of deploying the software product is to adhere to the release orchestration. The deployment is a highly automated process that is almost invisible in highly matured organizations. In small enterprises, the process involves manual approvals. 

Step 8: Maintenance

As your software product has rolled out, it marks the beginning of the maintenance routine. The practice of adjusting, modifying, and updating software to meet the demands of customers is known as software maintenance. Program maintenance is performed after a product has been released for a variety of purposes, including enhancing the software overall, addressing errors or bugs, increasing performance, and more.

It is crucial to maintain the quality of your software’s operations. Software developers do not have the luxury of just releasing a product and letting it run. They must continuously be on the lookout for ways to rectify and enhance their software to remain competitive and relevant. 

To prevent such negligence, fix bugs, and keep your product up-to-date, you must seek expert help. At InvoZone, you can accelerate your business growth with in-house or outsourced technical support services to maintain the product without downtime!

 

 The 5 Best Software Development Processes

There is a long software development methodologies list but finding the right fit for your website or mobile application development project is a critical step.

via GIPHY

Let’s have a brief introduction to software development methodologies to help you make an informed decision:

• Waterfall Model

It is the real veteran who is extremely linear and often leads to frequent delays, plus limits the iterative approach! It is ideal for you if you are a big fan of documentation and rigid structures.

• Agile And Scrum

Agile methodology is dynamic as it adopts the incremental and iterative approach. It makes a faster delivery and responds to the needs of the customers efficiently. You must not opt for it if you are working with a tight budget and short timelines.

• Iterative

Iterative development is streamlining the software development process by dividing it into smaller portions. It is based on the systematic repetition of iterations which are the tiny software development cycles.

• V-shaped Model

The V-shaped model is a modification of the classic waterfall method that emphasizes testing. Hence, it is perfect for smaller projects with tight scopes.

• Spiral Model

The spiral model combines the V-shaped model focus on testing with the incremental and iterative approach. If you are working on complicated and larger projects, go for the spiral model, as it is known for mitigating risks!

Hire Full Cycle Software Development Developers 

With InvoZone by your side, enjoy a full-time business partnership that increases your ROI. Plus, our co-partnership comes as a lifetime bonus! We will help you define your software project specifications into a scalable reality and here’s why you should hire us:

• 300+ project experience
• Ready to help you at any project stage
• 500+ developers & trained professionals
• Experts available in the latest tech stacks
• Market-friendly rates
• Time adjustment as per your region
• 24/7/365 availability
• Significant clarity in the design 
• Constant bug-killing & testing
• Seamless DevOps implementation
• Comprehensive security program 

Get in touch now.

FAQs

What are the 7 steps in the software development process?

The seven steps in the software development process are given below:

• Selecting a team
• Planning
• Requirement analysis
• Design 
• Development
• Testing
• Deployment & Maintenance

How can I develop custom software?

You can hire a development agency that offers custom software development as well as presents options to augment your team. They develop custom software by following these steps:

• Get clear project requirements.
• Design a system architecture
• Developer write code based on design
• Software testing is done
• Software deployment and maintenance

How do I choose a software development process?

You can select a software development process by considering the following things. Such as

• Project Scope
• Team Expertise
• Project Deadlines
• Project requirements and needs