How to Create Software: Key Tasks, Roles, Cost Factors
Delivering software development services practicing iterative Agile software delivery for a long time, Livyoung Realtech Enterprise helps efficiently plan and build software products.
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How to Develop Your Own Software Product: Summary
Software ideation, planning, designing architecture, UX and UI, coding, testing, and deployment are all part of the development process for new software.
This procedure can take as little as 2-6 months if the lean workable version (MVP) is created first.
A project manager, a business analyst, UX and UI designers, front-end and back-end developers, QA and DevOps engineers are all needed on a software development team.
Additional skills, such as data scientists and 3D designers, may be necessary depending on the project’s nature.
Software Development Process Step by Step
The typical procedures we take to finish enterprise application development projects are outlined below.
When you choose to create an MVP, you can skip some of the tasks. Furthermore, different development approaches (Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall, V-model, and so on) treat these activities differently — they might be done repeatedly in parallel or linearly.
Step 1.
Product idea organization
Duration: 3 days – 3 months
Developing a product concept.
Identifying and comprehending the target audience, as well as their demands and needs.
Examining similar software products (analysis of competitor product features, pricing & monetization models, customer feedback, etc).
Conceptualization of a software product.
Creating strategies for customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.
The software monetization model is being defined.
Step 2.
Software planning
Duration: 2 weeks – 1 month.
Detail software features are defined and prioritised.
Creating a list of software requirements.
App type/types: high-level software design (mobile, web, desktop).
Specifying what capability areas each module covers and how the modules should interact in a list of software modules to develop.
Planning integrations and describing data and process flows between the target software and other existing software.
Making a timeline for the software development project with important milestones.
Creating a business case include doing a cost-benefit analysis, calculating NVP, and calculating ROI.
Step 3.
UX design
Duration: 1 weeks – 1 month.
Conducting UX research to gain a better understanding of the target audience's mental models.
Describes the user's interaction with the software product (e.g., what system response the user gets upon different actions).
Creating wireframes for each screen that show the fundamental functionality and content arrangement.
Creating a dynamic UX prototype of the application by combining wireframes.
Performing user testing on the prototype.
Step 4.
UI design
Duration: 1 weeks – 1 month.
Choosing a colour scheme, icons for buttons, menus, tabs, and screen layouts for user-facing software components (choosing a colour scheme, icons for buttons, menus, tabs, and screen layouts for the application's GUI).
Creating full-color graphic interface mockups from software prototypes.
Creating a user interface kit to aid in the rapid development of user interfaces.
Our Tip: We advise our clients to invest in a distinctive UI design only if it provides a competitive edge for their software product. Otherwise, we stick to the standard themes and concentrate on the software’s functioning.
Best practice: Here, we normally take the effort to prepare and assure user interface uniformity across many browsers, mobile versions on various screen sizes, and mobile applications running on various OS systems.
Step 5.
Software Architecture Design
Duration: ~2 weeks
At the code level, a detailed description of how future software's functional modules should work.
Database design in great detail.
Defining integration approaches across the various functionality modules (point-to-point, middleware-based, iPaaS, etc.).
Choosing the technological stack for the back end and front end of future software.
Step 6.
Coding
Duration: 2-6 months to deliver the first working version
Creating automated environments for development and delivery (CI/CD, container orchestration, and so forth).
Writing APIs and server-side programming.
Creating a completely working user interface using static user interface mockups provided by UI designers.
Conducting static code analysis and unit testing (by developers).
Step 7.
Testing
Duration: ~30% of the project time (depends heavily on software complexity, security and compliance requirements, the level of test automation, and more).
Developing a test strategy that includes a testing scope, test types that cover all functional and non-functional software requirements, and reporting techniques, among other things.
Making checklists and test scenarios.
Automated test scripts must be written and run (API and UI tests).
Functional, performance, security, and integration testing are all carried out.
Bugs discovered during testing are being fixed.
Step 8.
Deployment and further iterations
Software deployment in a production setting.
(This is common for B2B items) On-site user training sessions are available. Bug fixes discovered by users.
Bug fixes discovered by users.
Based on user feedback, product management input, market trends, marketing strategy, and other factors, enhancements and new features are being planned.
Note: In iterative development models, all the described tasks will be cycled in 2-week – 6-month releases of new functionality.
Best practice: We take the time to design and organize great user assistance for our B2B startup clients.
It’s critical to prepare for client obstacles and queries about software setup and operations, to provide proactive answers to probable concerns, and to demonstrate how customers may get the most out of your product.
Software development consulting
Our consultants:
Conceive new ideas and conduct a competitive analysis.
Define the overall functionality of the software product (and/or its MVP).
Deliver a proof of concept (if necessary), and identify the MVP/software tech stack and architecture.
Provide guidance on advanced technologies (AI, machine learning, big data, AR/VR, and so forth).
Plan for application compliance and security (HIPAA, FDA, GLBA, PCI DSS, etc.).
Come up with a DevOps approach.
Provide a precise roadmap for implementing the MVP/software.
Handle implementation supervision, including vendor communication, RFP development, ongoing project management, and quality assurance.
End-to-end software development
Our team takes over:
Conceptualizing and managing features for products.
UX and UI design for software.
Development of MVPs and software in accordance with industry norms and requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, FIPS, COPPA, etc.).
Testing and quality assurance.
Third-party integrations are possible.
Launch and support for the MVP/software.
Key Roles in a Software Development Project
Project Manager
- Making a project plan with deliverables and milestones.
- Maintaining the project’s timeliness, scope, and budget.
- Facilitate and coordinate communication among all members of the team.
- Making a risk management strategy.
Business Analyst
- Identifying future software consumers’ interests and needs
- Translating user wants and needs into software requirements, both functional and non-functional.
UX designer (focuses on aesthetics)
- UX research is being carried out.
- Creating the user interactions that a software product will have.
- The information architecture is being designed.
- Usability testing is being carried out.
UI designer (focuses on usability)
- Developing the look and feel of user-interface software.
- Creating a user interface development kit.
Back-end developer
- Writing APIs and backend programming.
- Unit tests are carried out.
Front-end developer
- Making a software representation level, which includes everything the user sees on the screen.
Quality assurance engineer
- Creating a test strategy and strategic plan.
- Choosing test instruments.
- Creating, managing, and designing tests.
- The testing procedure is being implemented, documented, and improved.
- Keeping track of test results, as well as detecting and reporting defects.
DevOps engineer
- Taking care of software servers.
- Implementing an infrastructure-as-code strategy
- Container orchestration and software containerization.
- Creating continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines for automated deployment
- Choosing and configuring software monitoring tools on a daily basis.
Sourcing Models for Software Product Development
The entire software development process is in-house
Pros:
Direct control over the development process and the output of the team.
Cons:
Exorbitant prices.
The start of a long-term software development project.
You have my full support in terms of hiring and management.
A mix of an in-house team and outsourced consultancy
Pros:
Outsourced developers execute regular chores, allowing in-house developers to focus on more exciting jobs that will help them improve their expertise in a given sector (e.g., developing innovative algorithms, enhancing software performance).
Tasks that necessitate a high level of security can be completed using the in-house network and infrastructure.
Cons:
Risks associated with selecting a vendor.
Establishing effective collaboration and communication between the in-house and consultancy teams takes time and experience.
Project team coordination, worries about timely and high-quality delivery, and risk management are all on your side, partially or completely.
Full software development is outsourced
Pros:
Software development project management, established software design and development methods.
A vendor is fully responsible for the formation and management of the project team, as well as the quality of the project deliverables and risk management.
Cons:
Vendor risks are high.
Need to Deliver a Top Software Product Hassle-Free?
We can fill in specific resource and skill gaps in your in-house development team, take responsibility for a portion of your project (in collaboration with your in-house team or other vendors), or take full responsibility for the end-to-end delivery of software products, allowing you to focus entirely on marketing and sales.
Fast results: an MVP launch can take anywhere from 2 to 6 months.
Every 2-6 weeks, a high-quality release is made.
Software availability of up to 99.99 percent.
Security issues are guaranteed to be solved 99 percent of the time.
Experience with advanced technologies (AI, ML, AR/VR, etc.).
DISCUSS SOFTWARE DEV PROJECT
Software Development Costs
Major cost factors:
Application type (web, mobile, desktop); number of platforms and OS versions supported.
The number and complexity of application features.
The number of user roles.
The complexity of the application logic and workflows.
The number and complexity of integrations with third-party systems.
Application availability, performance, security, latent capacity and scalability requirements.
Frequency of application updates and improvements.
Special features required (e.g., ML-based).
Uniqueness and complexity of the UI design.
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