We’re true advocates of custom software development as often only unique and custom solutions truly change the world for the better. For example, a healthcare startup Almond has made their aim to transform obstetrical-gynecological care in the US with next-level digital solutions. They developed a comprehensive SaaS telehealth solution that provides round-the-clock guided care making the lives of birthing people much more comfortable and easier.
If you’re thinking about developing custom software for your business, you may have plenty of questions. How much will my project cost? How much time does it need? How can I make sure the final product is exactly what I want? These are essential questions, and we want to help you find the right answers.
In this article, you’ll learn about five software development process best practices that can ensure your success. But first, let’s find out whether custom development is even worth all the effort or, perhaps, it would be much easier to decide on a ready-made solution.
Why is custom development better than a ready-made solution?
Ready-made software may be less expensive, but it’s often built with generic features that don’t meet the needs of your business. This can lead to higher support costs and a higher rate of security vulnerabilities which, in its turn, can cause the loss of sensitive business data.
Custom development allows you to work closely with developers who understand your business and develop solutions that fit your unique needs. Ready-made software packages tend to be limited in terms of customization options and often provide one-size-fits-all solutions. Grand View Research findings prove the increasing popularity of custom software development by forecasting the market revenue to reach a whopping $146.18 billion by 2030 as compared to $29.29 billion in 2022.
Coming closer to the essence of the article, let’s discuss the promised five custom application development best practices.
#1. Find a trustworthy software partner
It’s one of the most fundamental best practices in software development. Your potential partner should have expertise in your industry and enough qualified in-house specialists to efficiently transfer your requirements into a feasible project. If you’re developing a healthcare application, for example, you need to find a partner that has experience with HIPAA compliance and health record management. Consider exploring the Yalantis.com website if you’re looking for a custom software development company with diverse domain-specific expertise.
A reliable software development company will do everything in their power to deliver your project within your budget and with the highest quality possible. They also won’t sell you additional work that is not included in your original specifications. Such a company will also keep you updated throughout the development process and provide regular status reports on how things are progressing.
#2. Compose a feasible set of requirements and an RFP
Another best practice of custom software development is providing exhaustive functional and non-functional project requirements and a request for proposal (RFP).
To elaborate on the right and high-quality requirements, it’s important to involve all your stakeholders and business partners early in the process. They will give their valuable input into what should be included in the software system.
An RFP is a formal document where you describe what your project will entail and how much it should cost (at least approximately) as well as how long you expect it to last (again approximate estimate). The RFP should be brief, but it’s important to include in it all relevant information about the project.
The more thorough you are with your requirements and RFP, the fewer development issues you’ll face down the road.
#3. Set realistic budget and time constraints
The ultimate benefit of custom software development is that it allows you to create the exact product that you want within whatever budget and time constraints you set for yourself. But to set accurate budget and time limitations, you should discuss them with all the stakeholders to make sure everyone is on the same page.
If you’re not sure about how much your software should cost and how long the development will take, take some time to research average spending on similar solutions before starting the project. You can use this information as a baseline for negotiations with your future software partner to reach together a common and feasible ground.
Take an active part in project roadmap building
One more best practice of custom software development is taking an active part in project roadmap building. This means paying attention to how your project starts so that you can make adjustments until it isn’t too late. It is also important not to overlook any opportunities to save costs and avoid scope creep already at the beginning.
The first step to building a feasible project roadmap is to define the suitable scope of work for each release. This includes defining what features will be included in each release, how many sprints each release will have, and how much time should be allocated to each sprint. Once you and your team are done with this, you can move on to plan your sprints.
A good way to start planning your sprints is by estimating how long each task will take and then grouping them based on these estimates into “release blocks” (also known as “epics”). For example, if you estimate that a certain feature will take two weeks to build, then you can group all tasks related to that feature into one epic that lasts two weeks and assign them all to one sprint.
Stay open-minded and yet keep a close eye on your development process
Just like in life, in the software development process, balance is the key. You surely need to trust your software development team but no one better than you knows how your software should feel and look, so do find time to ask your team for regular updates and interfere in the development process whenever you feel like doing so.
Staying open-minded also means listening carefully to your team and, sometimes, being ready to make decisions based on their experience and advice. You may not always be on the same page with your team and even feel disappointed at times. For instance, your team can tell you that your application requires more time than it was initially estimated to achieve the level of quality you want. We recommend you never let emotions take over you if something goes not as planned and simply accept that you can’t control everything to a tee.
We believe the recipe for successful custom software development starts with the right people and a mix of common sense and relevant expertise. As long as everyone on your development team knows their role and responsibilities and sticks to them, you can tackle any challenge and achieve any goal. But don’t start your new custom software project thinking about issues or challenges, you should better start with the positive future vision of your new successful application and do your best to transmit this vision to your development team.
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