Whether you are a business owner or a CTO, you are solely responsible for the successful execution of the Software development project. 

Completing the projects successfully within timeline and budget is quite a challenging endeavour. Even if everything went well, there is always room for improvement. 

Business owners and managers are also on the lookout to improve the process, and as follows, minimize the time to market the product, prevent cost from surging and finally increase the quality of the product. 

All in all, these pocketed items make you stand out as a manager or business owner and manifold the success of your business.

Even though design and Software Development companies in the UAE thrive on delivering the demands of their clients, still retaining their life and rationality. Here in this blog, I will shed light on the common reasons that software projects turn expensive and what can be your quick-fix as a developer or as a stakeholder to successfully complete the project and deliver absolute values to users and business.

So, if you are looking to develop an app or craft a better website for your business, you have to invest in a software project. And, to ensure software project success, you have first to understand why the majority of the software project fails. 

Also, according to a Standish report, approximately 31.1% of software projects are cancelled, and about 52.7% of projects cost 189% more than their actual estimate. 

But, before we start with the crucial factors to ensure software project success, it’s imperative to understand the software development process.

What Is Software Development Process?

Irrespective of your plan, every piece of software goes through a similar path from the ideation stage to completion. Altogether, the steps of this path are called the software development lifecycle. 

Simply put, SDLC is the sequence of steps that occur during the development of a piece of software. The software development life cycle (SDLC) is a collection of rules and practices helping to connect tech, non-tech team members and project stakeholders to bring the fantastic idea into a unique software solution. 

It compiles the development team’s work, allowing them to meet the project requirements, deadlines, and stay within the budget. Each stage of the software development life cycle depends on the software development process model – agile, v-model, waterfall, incremental or RAD (Rapid App Development).

Without Any More Ado, Let’s Start With 10 Reasons That Will Ensure Software Project Success

#Step 1: Consider End User and Integrate User Testing

One of the best choices to manifold your chances of success is to ensure you are designing and developing for your intended users. 

This is why it is essential to understand the needs of the user throughout the process. And, when you create a value-driven statement, it becomes easy to identify what solutions your product brings to the target audience. For instance, you can easily write out a statement at the beginning of your project that answers the questions of who your product targets and what problem your product will solve for intended users. 

So, consider which phase of your project you want to integrate user testing. Ask your software developers in Dubai about the different methodologies depending on where you want the valuable user feedback. Conducting user testing before the designing aspect can determine whether you have a good user interface; while conducting it post-build can compare your product to competitors.  

So, make sure that you prepare your participants and testing zone to accomplish accurate results.

2. Clarify Your Objectives and Specifications

It’s beneficial to create a product roadmap that lays out a strategic plan and highlights your objectives. Be comprehensive and specific about what your team needs to help meet your final goals. 

And, before heading into the software development lifecycle, creating a value-driven statement to help set a precedent for what your project is, what is its target, and what problem it will solve. 

3. Choose The Best Team

Hire software developers that are savvy, experienced and skilled to make the development journey seamless. The investment in senior developers will surely cost more, but it will save you headaches, efforts, time and money in the long run. 

Besides, you should make sure that each team member understands their specific roles and responsibilities for the project. Assigning projects roles will offer you the confidence that the team can complete the project efficiently within the timeline. 

Also, make sure that your team is following software development protocols and workflows. A project that doesn’t follow the best design and development practices is destined to break or fail in the long run. 

Last but not least, work with a passionate team about your product and cares about the outcome of your product development. 

4. Sketch A Plan

Proper planning makes sure everyone knows exactly what they are responsible for throughout the project. Before you start working, you should determine the project strategy and approach that will lead you to achieve the final goal. 

So, take the time to figure out which development tool you will be using throughout the process and identify the technical architecture that will brace your software. 

Finally, make sure your partnered software developer in Dubai have all of the following:

• App framework
• Sprint plants with clear milestone
• Bug and task tracking
• Automated testing
• Code reviews

5. Opt For Effective Project Management

Every person related to the project must agree to a set of deliverables and acceptance criteria to avoid scope creep and additional costs. Therefore, a formal agreement between your business and the software development team is an excellent choice to define clear expectations and eliminate confusion. 

It’s advisable to find a team that uses the agile project management methodology, which develops software with an iterative approach. And, simultaneously, to make sure that your project is always inching ahead, the team should set clear milestones with challenging deadlines. 

Moreover, the software design and development company should have weekly meetings where they discuss what was completed, what will be achieved next, and if any obstacles are hindering the progress. Even client meetings should be scheduled regularly to update your business on the project progress. This act as an opportunity for your team to offer feedback and clarification to the development team. 

6. Offer Transparency

Transparency is crucial at the onset of a project. Even as a client, you should clearly share your project requirements and vision for your product. Clearly telling the needs ensures that the development team builds precisely what you ask for. 

Documenting your scope of work to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Thus, clear communication will maximize your chances of creating a successful software project. 

All in all, clear and consistent agreement is the backbone of a successful project that ultimately helps avoid confusion, mistakes, and delays. Regardless of the project stage, communication is a crucial part of understanding concerns, ongoing project updates, achievements; there should be a dedicated communication channel like slack, Skype etc. 

7. Pay Attention To The Design

During the designing phase, the UX designers create a detailed design document that specifies the techniques and tools supporting the product goal. The software developers would then review the document to correct technical changes. 

Remember, design is the blueprint for what is going to be crafted. It may take a few test runs to find the right design. 

This is why it is important to have testing and improvement phases throughout the development process. Moreover, it would be best if you had an excellent UX designer team that keeps the user experience the topmost priority.  They will need to have some technical tools like wireframing and prototyping for user flow mockups. 

Visual compositions and wireframes are crucial for your project’s objective. And, to create a software project like a website or a mobile app, you will need to start by creating wireframes that show picture representations of information and features.   

Although wireframes are valuable as they help visualise the general layout of the website, it is used to define specifications and get approval from the clients. Wireframes can supplement visual comps as these mockups go a step ahead to offer a visual representation of the final product.

Some other diagrams that offer value to your project process are flowcharts, which help define the workflow by providing a transparent visual model of what the programmer will code. 

8. Integrate Risk Management

Without any delay, let’s face it! Things do go wrong, so you should try to fail as gracefully as possible. And, to do so, crafting a risk log with an action plan to mitigate and tackle risks at the early stage is mandatory. The software companies in Dubai create a plan to confront threats and inform clients about the potential problems. 

Notably, you should find any risks that might emerge and then analyze the potential impact it might have on your overall project budget, quality and scope. Therefore, integrating the proper risk management to mitigate any risks and prevent the derailing of your project.

9. Follow The Best Software Development Practices

Whether you agree or not, your team must follow software development best practices. The development team should adhere to the guidelines of coding standards. 

Source control is another important component as it allows you to manage the changes to your code and offer a centralized source for your code. 

Some other modern-day approaches include continuous integration and continuous delivery. At the same time, continuous integration is a preparation aimed at getting frequent updates as quickly as possible to get fixes to users. Before moving into the launch process of your app, the software development team should review the code. 

Remember, code review is a critical phase of your software project that will help you identify any bugs and deficiencies. Code review ensures that software developers are following the best practices while ensuring the entire team has reviewed the code.

10. Do A Final Pre And Post- Launch Review

Don’t quit until the end step. 

When starting the project, you should test your system with the setup and data that are as close to production as possible. 

Once you have done this all and completed your final acceptance tests, it’s onto the next development step – deployment. 

The deployment process is customized based on your project’s specific requirements. The team should review, confirm, and approve the deployment documentation. Then, when you release the product, you should analyze and reflect on what went well and what didn’t well through the complete project cycle. 

This approach will help your team adjust performance accordingly for the next project. 

Finally….

The firms that successfully integrate the software development process witness significant changes in their business. All in all, it has a positive effect on all other factors. 

Even paying attention to the factors described above improves the quality of the project’s software development process. Businesses can read changing conditions and priorities, craft adaptive solutions, and avoid constant crises. 

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