Introduction
Building a product from beginning to end is an immense task. If you can create a high-quality product that is targeted to the demands of your clients, you will greatly boost your chances of meeting your business objectives. However, this is an extremely difficult process full of challenges. In this article, we have highlighted some of the most crucial processes which serve as the foundations for good product development. Let’s go over the details and facts to bear in mind.
Before You Start
When planning a software project, there are numerous factors to consider, and the amount of time and work required will vary depending on the size and complexity of the project.
Needs And Goals
This one appears self-evident, yet it is easier said than done. You may have the seeds of a fantastic concept, but every detail must be well-considered to make it sprout. Sitting down and detailing what users will need to be able to do can assist your developers in understanding what functionality the software must deliver. Once your objectives are clear, you can figure out what resources you’ll need to get there.
Users
Who are your clients? What will make their lives and jobs easier? Your new programme may be cool and useful, but not everyone will agree. Persuading users to embrace it may be time-consuming and challenging if you are not responding to a well-established need. So when you are building a product for a new market, you must conduct market research.
If you are making software for your own company, talk about it with your team. Every technological change affects your employees in some way. So if you are replacing an existing system, it will be good to learn what is important to current users.
Project Limitations
Time, money, technology, your availability, will your new software need to be compatible with existing systems? All of these, and more, are limitations you need to consider when starting a new project.
Logically, the fewer limits there are, the more freedom you have to deliver your project exactly as you like. But some aspects (namely, the amount of resources at your disposal) are fixed, and it’s something you need to know ahead of time to plan accordingly.
This will help in managing the dreaded timeline, which is one of the most common challenges in project management. Setting realistic limitations and prioritising tasks is crucial to making an accurate and achievable timeline. More about this in the next point.
Priorities
What is the most important thing to you? What can’t you live without? Could the project be divided into phases so that the most significant components of the project are delivered sooner rather than later? What physical and intangible benefits do you anticipate from this software? How much money will it save you, or how much business will it bring you?
Knowing what is most and least important can help you steer towards the best project plan possible. More information equals a better grasp of your needs/wants, so the better a developer understands the goal and requirements of your application, the better the final product will be.
Reports
Software systems are excellent at capturing various types of data, whether from direct user input or via user behaviour. Reporting on all of the recorded data could provide significant insight into your organisation. Some companies choose to employ custom reporting tools for that, which allow them to configure the exact data and metrics they need to export.
Not all information brings value to the project. It is critical to identify what information you want to report on so that you don’t have to spend resources on handling irrelevant data. That will waste everyone’s time at best and derail the project at worst.
Team To Build a Software Product
The development process necessitates a close-knit group of specialists in which each member is well-versed in their field. Experience is very important.
If you entrust the development process to a custom software development company, make sure that the firm has all the necessary specialists on board and doesn’t need to hire someone specially for your project. Bamboo Agile is fully staffed with all the key specialists necessary for any type of software project regardless of industry or complexity.
Below is a list of specialists that form the basis of most software teams.
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or Tech Lead
Initially, you will express the vision and specifications of your product to a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or Tech Lead. However, their involvement will not end there. They will be participating in every stage of the software development process with you.
The CTO or Tech Lead leads your project, creates a roadmap, and ensures the technical success of the product. They integrate your company’s strategy into the software development process, identify barriers, and devise methods to overcome them. Furthermore, they serve as a liaison between you and other stakeholders to keep everyone on the same page.
Tip: If you don’t have a CTO in-house or don’t need them to work full time, consider hiring a fractional CTO.
Delivery Manager
This position serves as the project’s supervisory authority, assuring timely delivery while avoiding excessive costs across the SDLC. The Delivery Manager establishes a project strategy and monitors all software development phases in terms of timelines and resource allocation in coordination with the CTO or Tech Lead.
They emphasise your company’s needs throughout each phase and provide updates on the progress. When you’re using the Agile approach, the Delivery Manager focuses on maximising the value of your product through iterative development.
Business Analyst
Having a Business Analyst (BA) on your team is critical to ensuring your product fits into the market properly.
The BA defines your objectives and how your product will reach them. In the early phases, they analyse data and acquire insights to understand the desires of your target audience. Then, they bridge the gap between challenges and solutions, determining the best way to create your own software and evaluating the expenses. Finally, they document business needs and make certain that they are met without exception.
The Development Team
A dedicated software development team is made up of professionals like UX/UI designers, frontend/backend developers, and QA engineers who collaborate to produce your product.
Their tasks include planning, developing, and continuously monitoring the quality of your program. They transform your concept into a complete product and deliver it to end customers, sustaining it after launch to provide ongoing value to your target audience.
The Process of Building a Software Product
What is the proper way to develop software? What sequence do you follow? Here are some of the most important software development steps in the project life cycle.
1. Idea Generation
Coming up with new ideas is often difficult because the last few years have offered us so many brand-new IT goods and technological breakthroughs. Because of the current plethora of various out-of-the-box solutions, modern development teams must think of an application that meets a widespread demand in the market and, in general, offers something unique.
Brainstorming is a useful method in the IT industry. It is a process in which a group of people come together to generate ideas. The goal of brainstorming is to come up with as many ideas as possible, regardless of how crazy or unrealistic they may seem. It’s a great creative strategy for identifying the greatest answers and ideas for implementation.
2. Planning
Planning-related tasks lay the framework for a successful software development project to get off to a good start. Comprehensive analysis ensures that all stakeholders understand the project’s objectives, requirements, and planned outcome. This stage also allows you to identify potential concerns, dangers, and restrictions.
This is also when you have to think about possible integrations required for the project. It can be difficult to combine your work with technologies that your audience may already be utilising. You must use application program interfaces (APIs) or software development kits (SDKs) to make it possible.
A precise roadmap you created during the planning phase, including the project’s milestones, timeframe, and resource allocation, will serve as a guide for your development team. It will assist in the establishment of a framework for project monitoring, progress evaluation, and stakeholder communication. A good software development plan streamlines the process and decreases the possibility of deviations, ensuring the project stays on track and meets its basic objectives.
3. Requirements Definition
This phase is crucial for transforming the planning and analytical information into explicit requirements for the development team. This method directs the creation of several critical documents, including a software requirement specification (SRS), a use case document, and a requirement traceability matrix.
4. Design
In the design phase, you figuratively put your concepts to paper. The initial strategy and vision are refined into a software design document (SDD), which covers the system design, programming language, templates, platform to be used, and application security measures. This is also where you can describe how the software reacts to user input.
Most of the time, the design step will include the creation of a prototype model. Creating a pre-production version of the product allows the team to visualise what the product will look like and make adjustments without the effort of rewriting code.
5. Development
During the development phase, members of the development team divide the project into software modules and transform the software requirements into code that constitutes the product.
This phase of the SDLC can take a long time. It is critical to establish a timeline and milestones so that the software developers understand the expectations and progress requirements at any given point.
In some circumstances, the development stage might be combined with the testing stage, where specific tests are performed to guarantee that no critical defects exist.
6. Testing
Before releasing the programme to the production environment, your quality assurance team must undertake validation testing to ensure that it functions properly and accomplishes what it is supposed to. The testing method might also aid in resolving major user experience or security issues.
Sometimes software testing can be done in a simulated environment. Other, simpler tests can be automated as well.
This phase will include the following forms of testing:
- Performance testing measures the performance and scalability of software under various scenarios;
- Functional testing ensures that the programme fits the specifications;
- Security testing identifies potential flaws and vulnerabilities;
- Unit testing tests individual units or components of software;
- Usability testing evaluates the user interface and overall user experience of software;
- Acceptance testing, also known as end-user testing, beta testing, application testing, or field testing, is the final stage of testing to ensure that the software product delivers on its promises.
7. Deployment
This is the most crucial part. Depending on the scenario you’re in, there are various techniques to going live. You may want to execute a soft launch with selected users, or you may be forced to do it all at once. Consider data migration or setup, as well as customer communication. It is also worth mentioning that there may be difficulties along the way to deployment. Save yourself some time and trouble by allowing for some extra cushion time throughout the planning stages.
Another thing to consider during the deployment stage is hosting and distribution. Where will your software be hosted? If it’s an app, that includes deciding on a distribution method, such as an app store or enrolling your organisation in an enterprise programme. If it is server-based, it implies the use of a server or cloud services. Servers require specialised configuration and management to ensure their security and stability. You must decide if you have the resources to manage this internally or whether you require outside assistance.
8. Maintenance
If you follow the waterfall structure of the software development process, the maintenance phase is the final stage of the SDLC. However, the industry is shifting towards a more agile software development model in which maintenance is merely a stage on the way to greater progress.
A software maintenance agreement is required to ensure that the software continues to function properly. Users may discover faults and mistakes that were missed during the earlier testing process in the maintenance stage. That’s why after delivery, updates and maintenance are required to fix bugs, implement improvements, communicate with other systems, allow programs to use various hardware, software, system functions, and telecommunications facilities, migrate legacy software, and retire software.
These problems must be addressed to improve user experience and retention. In some situations, this may result in a return to the initial stage of the software development life cycle.
The SDLC phases can also be restarted if you want to include new features in your future release/update.
9. Post-launch Support
Will your software need user training? Post-launch support is a type of post-deployment customer service that begins immediately after launch and lasts for several weeks to many months. It is intended to assist both new and old users in learning how to utilise the new platform, product, feature, or programme.
The primary goal of the post-launch period should ideally include close monitoring and evaluation of all aspects and functionalities of your platform, such as technical support, on-site training, handling of customer service inquiries, and data integrity. The goal is to create a well-functioning system that your users understand and like using. After the post-launch period is over, the normal support activities resume.
Idea Validation and Estimation
Above, we were talking a bit about idea generation. Now let’s look deeper into that. When developing a new product, idea validation is a critical step that should not be skipped. It is a method for determining whether your concept has real potential and is worth putting time, money, and resources into.
Idea Validation
The development team analyses the validity of your idea by thoroughly assessing the current market niche for your proposed product or service, identifying prospective rivals, and determining the viability of your concept. It will assist you in determining whether or not your idea is worth exploring and how to position it in the market.
Project Estimation
The following critical phase involves estimating the overall project budget and timetable, followed by a more specific description of each activity and resource required to bring your idea to life. With this knowledge, you’ll be well-equipped to make wise decisions about resource allocation, fulfilling deadlines, and avoiding possible risks that might compromise the success of your project.
Requirements And Feasibility Analysis
The software feasibility study can help you decide whether your product is viable and satisfies your specific demands while still being reasonably achievable. Before beginning software development, various forms of software feasibility should be assessed. Here are the most important ones.
Technical Feasibility
Examine the resources and technology required for project success, identifying potential technical challenges and areas for improvement.
Operational Feasibility
Examine your product’s usability, maintainability, and integration readiness, paying attention to user-friendliness, dependability, and scalability. Examine compatibility with current systems as well as potential integration issues.
Legal Feasibility
Examine compliance with data privacy and security requirements, as well as intellectual property rights and local rules.
Prototype or MVP
It’s now time to bring your concept to life using a prototype or minimum viable product (MVP). When developing your initial product offering, you have several options to choose from. Let’s look at the three popular alternatives.
Clickable Prototype
A clickable prototype is an excellent option for individuals who want to see how their product will look and function before dedicating considerable time and resources to it. You can experiment with alternative design and functionality options using a clickable prototype while obtaining user feedback before committing to a more comprehensive MVP.
Concierge MVP
A concierge MVP is another option to consider. This entails developing a bare-bones but working version of your software that will require manual intervention to deliver. This strategy may comprise delegating some responsibilities to a dedicated team member or working one-on-one with consumers to ensure their needs are satisfied. This MVP variant is great for verifying your concept while collecting more personalised and immersive feedback from users.
Full-fledged MVP
Alternatively, you might invest the time and resources into producing a full-fledged MVP, which is a complete, fully-functional version of your software. Although this option requires more upfront resources and effort, it can hasten your product’s market introduction with additional features and capabilities.
Make Your Software Product Market Ready
Extra strategies are required while developing software to make it marketable.
Target Market
Examine market demand and perform a competitive study. Learn what your competitors are giving and use that information to improve your product.
Features and Functionalities
The features and functionality of software products provide a competitive advantage. During requirement analysis, it is critical to discover which of the product’s features are the most appealing and valuable.
Iterative Development
Iterative development is essential for marketing your product. The agile development process is considered the most effective.
Adequate Testing Coverage
Create an appropriate testing strategy. It is critical to avoid building inefficient products. Failing to test your software fully is dangerous to both short-term and long-term business endeavours.
Usability
You don’t need usability specialists on your team as a startup. Product reviewers can be hired online. Another low-cost option is to enlist close friends as reviewers. Their familiarity with usability might assist you with competitive product analysis.
Cost-Effectiveness
The cost of creating a software product from scratch is a vital factor. The advantages of low-cost product rollout and testing are numerous. A low-cost but dependable product is very appealing to the market.
Post-Deployment Support
Users select and purchase products with a cheap and effective support system. Create a cost-effective support model. In the long run, it will increase your profit.
Software Development Costs
One of the first queries a client asks the development team is, “How much does it cost to develop a software application?” However, there is no quick answer. You may need to design a single-feature product or a complete internal system for a company, and the time and cost to implement the ideas may be the same in both circumstances.
“How come?” you might ask. The entire budget is influenced by a variety of elements, including project complexity, technology stack, and infrastructure, as well as the level of experience of your software provider. So, how can you accurately calculate software costs?
The cost of bespoke software creation is significantly higher than that of ready-made software. Why? Because you pay developers to create a one-of-a-kind solution that is tailored to your exact specifications. You can fill it with the features you require and avoid paying for features you will never use yet receive as part of the package. Furthermore, you can think about scalability ahead of time to improve it if your company outgrows its initial potential.
Furthermore, once you wish to improve it, you won’t have to renew licences or spend money on add-ons. Finally, you will be the sole owner of the application created to your specifications, with the option of selling it to third parties.
Here are some questions you have to ask yourself and get answers to make a project’s price more clear:
- Is the app going to be web, mobile, or desktop? Will it be supported only by one platform or be multi-platform?
- How many features will the app have? How complex will they be?
- How many user roles will there be in the app?
- How complex will the app’s logic and workflows be?
- Will there be third-party integrations? How many? How complex will they be?
- What is the frequency of the app’s updates and improvements?
- Will it require special features like AI/ML?
- How complex is the design?
Of course, there are many more factors affecting the software cost, but these questions can help to get a more clear vision of your app to estimate it later.
Preliminary Costs
If you are choosing the option of entrusting software development to some outsourcing company, they often have some kind of estimator, where you put some main facts about your project’s idea into it and it gives you a rough preliminary estimation of the project cost. Bamboo Agile has such an estimator.
You can go through our cost calculator to get a clearer vision of possible future expenses.
Conclusion
Businesses benefit from software. However, creating it is another affair. A failure of a software product can spell doom for the business as well. Is it simple to create a product from scratch? Absolutely not! However, there is no doubt that working with specialists that have expertise in designing items similar to your idea will boost your chances of success.
To summarise, developing a product or service from the ground up necessitates a well-defined value proposition that resonates with the target audience. It all starts with a strong company idea that addresses a specific market need.
Collaboration among the product team’s product managers, designers, and developers is critical to success. And the iterative product design approach, aided by user testing, aids in the refinement of the solution and the delivery of a user-centric experience. A solid company plan that can maintain revenue generation and growth is essential.
Finally, the devotion and skill of the product development team, together with strategic product management, pave the path for impactful product releases and success stories. Building a product from the ground up is an exciting adventure that needs meticulous planning, flawless cooperation, and an unwavering focus on providing value to the target audience.
Before, we mentioned that Bamboo Agile has its own estimator for software projects. Another option to find out how much your project will cost is via ourcontact form. Simply fill it out to get a free consultation with our professionals and become one step closer to the application of your dreams!
