How to organize the software development process

Software development is a complex process of creating software products and applications such as operating systems, office suites, games, web services and mobile applications. Effectively organizing the software development process is critical to a company’s success. The time and cost of creating a product, its quality and marketability depend on how well this process is organized.

Successful development requires clear planning, application of modern methodologies, coordinated teamwork, flexibility and constant control at all stages of the process. A competent approach to process organization allows to optimize the use of resources, reduce risks, improve product quality and increase end-user satisfaction.

In this article, we will take an in-depth look at the software development process. We will talk about development processes, the main stages of the software lifecycle, software development models and the importance of team development management system for the success of the final product.

Software Product Life Cycle

One of the widely used tools for organizing the development process is the life cycle concept (SDLC). The life cycle defines the main phases through which a product passes from the origin of an idea to its introduction to the market and further support. Using SDLC methodology allows to manage software development stages in a comprehensive way, taking into account requirements, resources and risks.

This methodology identifies the main stages of the software product life cycle and reflects the stages of software development. Let’s consider each of them:

1. Planning (Planning)
   In this stage, a detailed project plan is developed. Timeline, budget, resources, and tasks are defined. This stage includes defining the development team, assigning responsibilities and creating a work schedule.
2. Requirements Analysis
   This stage involves gathering and documenting requirements for the software product. It involves communicating with the customer and end users to understand their needs. The result of this phase is the creation of a requirements document.
3. Design and Engineering (Design)
   In this phase, the architecture of the software product is developed. The data structure, user interfaces, system components and algorithms are designed. This phase also includes creating the user interface (UI) design and defining technical specifications.
4. Development
   At this point, active code creation begins. Developers write the program according to the requirements and design defined in the previous stages. Development may include the creation of various modules, components and functional parts of the program.
5. Testing & Deployment
   Within this stage, the quality of the software product is checked using various types of testing, including unit, integration, functional and other types of testing. After testing, the software is released into production. It is installed on the target server or distributed to end users.
6. Support
   After release, the software continues to be maintained and updated. This stage may include implementing updates, fixing bugs that arise, providing technical support to users, and responding to requests to change or add needed features.

Each of these phases has its own set of tasks and requirements, and successful completion of each phase is important to ensure quality and successful development of the software product. However, modern development models, such as Agile, can make changes to the sequence and emphasis of each stage to allow for a more agile development process. Next, let’s take a look at the major software development models.

Software development models

There are many software development models. The choice of a particular model largely determines the entire software development process and has a significant impact on the success of the project. Let’s tell you about the most popular ones:

The Sequential Model

A sequential approach (cascade model), in which the transition to the next stage occurs only after the previous stage is fully completed. Requirements analysis and design is done first, followed by development and testing, and only after that is the implementation and support of the product

• Pluses: efficiency of each stage, speed of the development process, transparency of the process.
• Minuses: lack of flexibility, difficult to make changes late in the process.
• Successes: lack of flexibility, difficult to make changes late in the process.

Iterative Model

The iterative model means that development is broken down into several iterations, each of which includes requirements analysis, design, development, and testing. After each iteration, the team gets feedback from users and can make changes to the design.

• Pluses: fast results and changes.
• Minuses: increased overhead due to multiple iterations, difficult to predict timelines.

Flexible model

The agile model is based on an iterative approach with an emphasis on continuous close interaction with the customer and a willingness to respond quickly to changing requirements. After each iteration, the customer can observe the intermediate result and evaluate whether it meets their expectations. Agile is well suited for large and long-term projects focused on constant change in accordance with market requirements. It is especially effective for creative teams generating new ideas on a daily basis.

• Pluses: product quality, meeting customer expectations.
• Minuses: requires high qualification and self-organization of the team.

Role of software development management system

A team software development management system is specialized software for automating and managing the entire software lifecycle within agile methodologies like Agile and Scrum

Such a system allows development teams to effectively manage tasks, organize work, control development progress and product quality. It automates routine processes, provides analytics and process visualization capabilities.

An effective system should comprehensively cover the entire software product development lifecycle. The system should also be adaptable to the needs of teams working under different development models – both sequential approach, agile and iterative model.

The SimpleOne platform product line includes software development management system – SimpleOne SDLC.

SimpleOne SDLC provides the following capabilities:

1. Release Management
   Planning processes based on business priorities and technical requirements, defining release goals and content, change control, version delivery management, and follow-up maintenance of released releases.
2. Integration with version control system
   Integrates tools for tracking and managing changes to code, documentation, and other project artifacts. Allows you to keep a complete history of changes, revert to previous versions if necessary, and conduct parallel development of new functionality in separate branches.
3. Product backlog management
   Formation and prioritization of the product backlog is a key step in successful software development management. The system provides tools for creating and managing the development backlog, as well as features of Kanban and Scrum methodologies. This helps you clearly see which tasks are prioritized and how they relate to each other.
4. Tracking product development progress
   Analytical reporting includes using roadmaps and dashboards to track the progress of product development at different stages of the lifecycle, analyzing resource costs, team productivity, code quality, and other key project metrics. Reporting provides transparency of the development process, allows you to quickly identify deviations and risks, and optimize the work of the team.
5. Resource Planning
   Labor accounting and efficient resource allocation are key aspects of successful software development management. The solution includes estimation of labor costs and allocation of workload to the team according to the scope and timing of work.
6. Organization of team work
   Formation of teams, distribution of roles and areas of responsibility. The system provides communication within the team with the help of activity feed: edits, comments, discussion of tasks and tracking changes. Systematic organization of work increases team productivity and helps to meet the deadlines and budget of the software development project.

Conclusion

Software development is a complex task that requires controlling multiple aspects. Without a clear structure and organization of processes, development can turn into chaos, where deadlines are not met, budgets are exceeded, and user and stakeholder dissatisfaction grows.

Additionally, specialized team software development management systems are used to manage the process. One example of such systems is the solution of the Russian company SimpleOne SDLC. The system integrates into the CI/CD landscape and provides a wide range of tools for planning, version control, task management, and analytics at all stages of the cycle. It helps to increase the speed and quality of development, reduce risks and costs. SimpleOne SDLC is a universal solution that is suitable for a wide range of customers and organizations.