What is custom software development?

It is the process of designing, developing and deploying software for a specific user or organization. It defines a definite closed set of requirements specific to a particular user.

A custom software development company can follow basic software development steps of requirement gathering, designing, coding and development, testing and maintenance for custom software development. There are various methodologies to develop custom software like Agile and Scrum.

A few of the most significant software development methodologies are discussed ahead.

What are custom software development methodologies?

Waterfall model

The Waterfall model is the most traditional and foundational methodology. It has various development stages that are pretty rigid and sequential.

It involves structuring and documentation of the project. The first stage is requirement gathering which involves a complete understanding of both developers' and customers' requirements. The second stage of development requires analysis of gathered requirements. Next comes the design and development phase, followed by implementation, testing, deployment and finally, maintenance.

The Waterfall model lacks flexibility and is often considered outdated. It allows moving to the next stage only when the first stage is completed. If any changes or modifications are required, the Waterfall model requires a complete restart.

The Waterfall model's benefit is that the full scope of the project is understood and documented in advance, so the software development progress is easily measured. Usually, large plan-driven teams who clearly understand the project and its scope implement the Waterfall model. 

Feature-driven development

It is an iterative and incremental approach to software development. It is a client-centric approach and makes a good fit for small development teams.

FDD (Feature-driven development) project life cycle involves the following development stages: develop object model, build features list, plan by each feature, design by feature and build by feature.

FDD aims to build client-valued foundational features and deliver them every two weeks. Status reporting is encouraged at every development stage. It helps to track progress, results and potential errors. It also ensures that it is further broken down if any feature takes longer than two weeks until it meets two weeks rule.

Agile methodology

An Agile methodology is designed to accommodate changes and the need to produce software faster. It features customer collaboration throughout the development process. Unlike the Waterfall model, it responds to change instead of following a set path. 

Agile is well-equipped to handle the variability and complexity of development projects. It allows iterations, each of which is of defined duration and involves a list of deliverables with no fixed order.

The methodology is collaboration-heavy and focuses on team strengths and efficiency. It also seeks internal feedbacks from various departments and clients. The Agile approach's highest priority is client satisfaction, achieved by continuous delivery of prioritized, tested and working features.

Conclusion

The adoption of software development methodologies helps the project team structure, plan, and control processes, products, and services. Choosing the suitable software development method primarily depends on the project scope, goals, team size, and other factors. Most of the custom software development companies adopt agile methodology because of the numerous benefits over other methods like continuous improvement, better control and customer satisfaction.

If you're looking for a custom software development company to assist you with your project's software development, connect with the experts at LeewayHertz. The developers at LeewayHertz are highly qualified, experienced and well-trained.