In the 21st century tech-intensive saga, Software is a vital part of the everyday routine. These days, it’s difficult to think of doing any activity that is not powered by some kind of computer-oriented processes.

On dredging deeper, software product Development is a highly streamlined process with precise procedures and strictly defined steps known as Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). So, if you are in the lookout for a sophisticated system, software suite or mobile app for your outstanding project delivery, keeping aside all the other essential elements, everything funnels down to a set of processes practiced by the software developers in Dubai.

Simply put, software development methodologies play a crucial role in creating software. Custom software development companies utilize many methodologies for their everyday operations. Also, there are advantages and disadvantages related with each of the approaches. The objective of these methodologies is to offer streamlined software development according to the project requirements.

As already known, the software development life cycle is a collection of rules and practices helping to connect technology, non-tech team members and project stakeholders for reinventing your exceptional idea into a unique software solution or product.

It streamlines the work of the development teams enabling them to meet project unique yet industry-oriented requirements, meet deadlines without leaving a burning hole in the pocket. Each stage of the development process depends on the model of the software development process a company chooses – whether it’s agile, waterfall, v-Model, RAD (Rapid App Development) or incremental.  

In simple terms, the software development methodology is a framework that is used to structure, plan, and control the process development of an information system. In this type of development methodology, the only concern of the software development process is that it does not involve any technical aspect. Still, it requires proper planning for the software development lifecycle. 

So, if you are looking to add more structure to your software development workflow, choosing the correct development methodology for your product organization is a must. And, it largely depends upon your team size, goals, and a lot of other factors. 

Here is an overview of the most popular and widely used software development methodologies to help you with what is suitable for your team.

Agile Software development Methodology 

Agile proves to be an ideal choice to design a disciplined software management process allowing regular or frequent alterations in the development project. This is a type of software development methodology that is a conceptual framework for undertaking several software engineering projects. 

Also, it’s used to minimize the risk by developing software in short time boxes which are labelled as iterations that generally last for one week to a month.

The significant advantage Agile development methodology offers is customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful softwares. Besides, agile methodology has an adaptive approach that is able to respond to the changing requirements of the clients. Direct communication and constant feedback from the customer representatives leave no room for mistakes in the system.

Waterfall Software Development Methodology 

When it pours down to software development, Waterfall is the most conventional and sequential choice. Though it’s usually viewed as an “old school” or totally obsolete, it’s helpful to understand the history and structure of Waterfall to appreciate the flexibility of modern technologies better. First developed in 1970, Waterfall was one of the renowned methodologies for several years because of its planned approach.  

This approach needs a myriad of structures and documentation upfront. Further, it’s divided into self-contained stages or stops. The first stage is essential, as it needs a complete understanding by developers as well as customers of the project’s demand and scope before anything skyrockets. The stages are relatively strong and often follow the sequence:

• Evaluate the project’s requirements and scope
• Analyze the requirements
• Design
• Implementation
• Test
• Deploy
• maintain 

But, there’s a glitch – “lack of flexibility”. It means what is decided by the customer and developer at the start must be seen through. Any potential changes needed to be made, or mistakes addressed towards the final stage; the waterfall method usually requires a complete restart. 

Conventionally, one stage must complete before another start, which helps with organizations and assignments. And, just because the complete scope of the project is understood in advance, software progress can easily be scaled. 
The waterfall is often used by big, plan-driven teams who clearly understand the project’s scope. Although, hire software developers who don’t operate in a vacuum and are likely to find better results with the flexibility and agility of emerging technologies.

Feature-Driven Software Development Methodology

An incremental and iterative approach in software development, FDD (Feature-Driven Development), is derived from the agile methodology and is known as a way to integrate it. Like Waterfall, FDD is viewed as an old method, a precursor to modern Lean/Agile implementations. This approach still focuses on delivering working software frequently and is a client-centric approach, crafting it as a good fit for smaller development teams.

Often, features are the firm foundation of FDD. According to the FDD approach, features are client-valued pieces of work that should be delivered every two weeks. And, to generate tangible software efficiently, FDD has five steps, the first of which is to create the complete model.

Further, develop a feature list and then plan according to the feature listed—the final two steps – design by the quality and build by feature-taking up the majority of the effort.

At every step, status reporting is motivated, and it helps to keep track of the progress, results, and possible errors. Though the efficient response to change is one of FDD’s unskippable attributes, an understanding of the client’s requirements and the complete model from the beginning of the project reduces any surprises during development.

In addition, any feature that takes longer than two weeks to build and design must be further broken down into separate elements until it meets the two-week rule. The definite structure of FDD makes it a little less desirable to teams who balance project-driven and break-fix types of work also.

Scrum Software Development Methodology

There is another way to integrate the Agile development methodology – “SCRUM”. Scrum uproots agile’s foundational belief and philosophy that teams and developers should collaborate heavily and daily.

Also, with scrum, software is built using an iterative approach in which the team is front and centre – experienced. And disciplined workers on smaller teams might find the most success by following this method, as it needs self-organization and self-management.

Team members break down end goals into smaller goals at the starting and work through them using fixed-length iterations or sprints to develop software and showcase it often. Meeting plays a crucial role in the scrum approach, and during each sprint, daily planning meetings and demonstration takes place to follow the progress and collect feedback. This incremental approach promotes quick alterations and adds values to complex projects. Scrum incorporates the structure and discipline of more traditional software development approaches with the flexibility and iterative practices of modern agile.

Lean

Lean is considered as once a workflow methodology with a mindset, inculcating principles and practices from the manufacturing space and applying them to a variety of industries, consisting software development. While agile is an outstanding methodology for the practical app of development best practices, it does not come with instructions for selling these practices across the organization or applying them outside of development – type work.

This is why most of the organizations and software companies in Dubai who practise Agile at the team level start incorporating lean philosophies, tools and practices to help to innovate at scale. Lean’s basic principles – optimize the whole, build quality, eliminate waste, create knowledge, defer commitment, deliver fast, and also respect people – helps in guiding the decision across the organization in a way that can help to unearth potential issues and maintain a healthy organizational culture.

So, amalgamating the best of Lean thinking and agile software development methods can create a healthy, sustainable culture of innovation that benefits not only the development organization, but the entire system.

XP (eXtreme Programming)

Another Agile framework is XP (eXtreme Programming), which produces higher-quality software using the best practices in software development. As with most of the agile approaches, XP allows frequent releases in short development sprints that facilitate changes when required.

Often, XP follows a set of values instead of steps, including simplicity, communication, consistent feedback, and respect. Besides, XP needs developers to first plan and understand the customer’s user perspective – their informal description of some specific features. Other practices consist of scheduling and managing work into iterations—design with simplicity in mind, code and test regularly, which helps create error-free software.

So, it’s recommended to listen to the feedback to understand the functionality best and then test more.

Finally…

All of the above mentioned software methodologies are crucial as they are mostly used for numerous software development projects. Moreover, all these methodologies work well in specific projects depending upon the nature of the project.

Often it happens that one methodology that is suited for a specific project may not be perfect for another project. Besides, none of these methodologies are foolproof as each has its advantages and disadvantages. So, before you hire software developers you should have information about all these methodologies before choosing any of these development methods for your software development projects.

Finally, for unparalleled results, it’s advisable to consult a professional software development company.