The software product development industry is growing year over year. In fact, according to a report published by Gartner in late 2020, the custom software development scene has reached a whopping $70 billion valuation and is growing at a pace of 5% each year.

In the following article, we are going to look at how to create a successful software product. We will present the recommended product development phases. Moreover, we will also assess why it’s worth having a software product development strategy and whether Agile is the most efficient method.

What is Software Product Development Strategy?

Software Product Development Strategy is a step-by-step plan which lists all the phases included in software development process, along with goals and project timeline. It contains a plan of actions from ideation to product launch.

Benefits of Creating Software Product Development Strategy

Generating a proper software product development brings significant benefits. Some of them contain

It makes working in cross-functional teams easier

Effectively managing software projects demands collaboration between specialists from various teams, each with distinct objectives and priorities. Establishing a strategy ensures unified understanding and goal attainment for all involved.

It allows you to get feedbacks at every phase of development process

Suppose that while validating the market, the team finds out that user engagement is not as high as expected. This gives you the opportunity to understand and address the causes of this decreased engagement before progressing further.

It improves the efficiency of the development process.

Every strategy for software product development ought to include resource distribution and a set schedule. This facilitates task ranking and prevents potential delays in delivering the product.

Software Product Development Process

1. Ideation and Brainstorming

The initial phase in the software product development process involves creatunga detailed concept for the product or service. A potent approach is to host a brainstorming meeting or creativity workshop with your team.

The objective is to dive into the product’s intended value to its users, its role in addressing market demands, and your strategy to stand out from competitors.

2. Requirements Gathering & Feasibility Analysis

Having determined what the software product will provide, it’s crucial to carry out a feasibility analysis. This involves an exhaustive examination of both technical and business elements that might impact the result of your software development initiative. Considerations include the projected product release date, budget for software development, primary project benchmarks, and the forecasted ROI.

It’s vital to address every facet of your product’s development. Notably, a study by ApiumHub highlighted that the leading challenge causing software delivery delays is setting unrealistic expectations, as cited by 14.45% of participants. Thorough preparation before any design or coding begins could mitigate the probability of those issues occur.

3. UI/UX & Design

Using the provided documentation, your design team will start sketching preliminary visual ideas for your product. After you approve the blueprint shown in the wireframes, they’ll continue to create detailed examples. Once every design part is approved, the completed designs and accompanying documentation will be given to the development team.

4. Development and Coding

The development and coding phase is the longest part of the software product development process. It entails converting product specifications into a functional product. Developers must ensure that the written code aligns with the product’s criteria and satisfies stakeholder requirements.

Yet, if the preceding phases were diligently carried out and the developers received a precise SRS document to adhere to, the coding segment should progress without hitches.

5. Testing

With the software now coded, the next step involves testing to ensure the absence of bugs or issues that could impair its usability. While the approach may vary across companies, typically, a Quality Assurance team uses multiple tools and methodologies to execute a series of tests, such as:

• Functionality testing
• User acceptance testing
• Systems integration checks

Overall, the objective of this phase is to confirm that the code is error-free and that the final product aligns with the intended business objectives. Once this is achieved, the software can transition to the implementation and deployment stage.

6. Implementation and Deployment

In this phase, following an implementation strategy, the newly constructed and vetted software is transitioned to production. If any modifications to the product are needed, only those particular adjustments will be rolled out.

Moreover, depending on the intricacy of the product, these iterations can either be released all at once for simpler projects or executed in phases for more complex endeavors.

7. Maintenance

The final step in the software product development process is maintenance. This stage ensures the software remains operational and efficient. It includes software updates, enhancements, and refinements.

Based on user feedback, the product can undergo adjustments to optimize its performance. Additionally, this maintenance phase provides an opportunity to introduce new features to better satisfy user demands.

Agile Methodology – Great Tool for Software Product Development Services

When browsing through software product development services online, you’ll often see that numerous software consulting companies prefer the Agile methodology. But what does this method involve, and is it genuinely a route to success? Let’s dig deep into Scrum, a widely-used framework within Agile, to understand its offerings.

Firstly, as aptly explainedby Atlassian, “the Scrum approach is heuristic, emphasizing continual learning and adapting to ever-changing conditions.” Work is structured around brief release cycles termed as sprints and typically lasts one to two weeks.

Each sprint finishes in a retrospective, providing the team a chance to adjust or reorganize tasks as necessary. This is the time where team members discuss their successes, challenges, and insights from each endeavor.

Furthermore, when collaborating with external software development groups, Scrum promotes effective teamwork among everyone involved – from developers and QAs to stakeholders. Continuous code testing and prompt error rectification ensure the software’s high quality. Consequently, the likelihood of unnoticed issues is significantly reduced compared to the Waterfall software development approach.

Notably, leading software companies like Google and Facebook use Scrum. For instance, Scrum played a pivotal role in rescuing the FBI’s faltering case management system project, which had previously cost the agency a staggering $405 million due to uncompleted project expenses.

Conclusion

In conclusion, software product development is a complex process – to make it more organized and easier to follow, it’s highly recommended to create a cohesive project plan.

Before diving into software development, it’s crucial to craft an in-depth feasibility analysis for the project. It’s essential to determine the unique offerings of the intended software, understand its advantages over existing market solutions, and forecast the budget, timeframe, and anticipated return on investment.

Furthermore, perfection on the first attempt can be challenging. Hence, we suggest adopting the Agile software development approach. With your team operating in iterative cycles, your team can continually refine their code, draw lessons from past experiences, and implement any necessary project modifications.

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