So you are finally on the hunt to find the best team of software developers for your next custom software development project? It may seem tempting to announce to everyone that you are going to build a perfect software project.
But no, not yet!
You need a team of the best custom software developers before even visualizing or assuming your next big IT project.
The decision on your final team is going to impact your business for at least 5 years plus it will cost you some investment. That’s why it is recommended to choose the best custom development services.
Firstly, you should ask these 4 questions to your team for better understanding,
Do They Have Experience Developing in the Industry?
Let’s assume the software is for the FinTech industry, there are a lot of security risks and an extreme need for data accuracy. Even if you attempt to hire one of the world’s leading developers, zero knowledge of FinTech laws, future tech, and current trends will not result in good quality software. The team may undermine the primary requirement which can lead to a lot of risks, mismatches, quality issues, and general standards.
Your developers should understand,
- Why your business exists
- Business’s size and growth stage
- Internal and external staff (developer) operations
- General understanding of the world apart from the tech degree
The team or the custom development services should understand the context around your business. What do you want to do, what are your current goals, and where is the business going? Without understanding these, a custom software developer can’t build a system that works for your business.
They might go overboard or be too generic, or you might spend more on workarounds, additional hacks, supporting your staff, or apologizing for delays. In other words, it is best to use developers and business expertise for great process improvement.
Do the Goals and Vision Align? Is it Challenging Them?
It makes no sense to get advice from someone unrelated to the key genre of business. But if you’re investing a significant amount of money in an operating system, CRM, or any other software system, then you should try to find a team of custom software developers who give a damn about your business.
You can ask for 3 things,
- Examples of how they are gonna do it
- Ask why they want to invest time in something
- Are they enthusiastic about sharing this goal
In a world full of “yes-men”, it is challenging to find custom software developers to understand the human side of developing software. Recognize whether they are your real collaborators. If they already showed you real-time examples of how they worked on something, then there is a chance that you have found the right person for the role.
Can They Meet Your Timeline And Budget?
What you might not realize is that 1 in 6 IT projects will have a 200% cost overrun. No one can afford that. Ask detailed questions about their process. Before that, you need to do a little research on custom software development before agreeing.
Ask the process type such as agile, scrum, or waterfall, and ask further questions when they start explaining your project and their time. You might start to get ideas about what custom software application development approach works for you.
- Do they have case studies of similar projects?
- Have they worked in the same industry?
- What are the steps to be taken if a project goes over time and budget?
What Do Their Customers Say?
Just reading the reviews is not enough when choosing to buy something. But it is crucial you corroborate reviews across multiple sources and see which custom software development company has the best reputation. Just a simple “Google” search doesn’t always cut it. You need to get detailed testimonials that can bring the truth that you have unheard of. If your final decision is based on price, then it is a good chance you will regret it.
You can get a glimpse of their capabilities by their processes and methodologies. Once you understand them all, you can present your concerns and needs later.
Now you have a team, we need to check what makes a good custom application project.
Understand Your Needs On The Required Custom Software Development
This will make sure every contributor to your organization is on the same page. Listing down the agendas can align with the project goals. When developing, the goals can be getting as much functionality as the team’s target instead of generalizing to specific design teams.
- Making a specific list of software requirements and aligning the same goals with your chosen software vendor can help
- Once developed, what are the other integrations required?
- Who is gonna have full ownership of the code?
- How can the responsibilities be split among the chosen team?
- Is the schedule realistic and reasonable?
- Any hidden fees or licensing fees?
- Will they make it scalable?
- Can others understand the project when delegated or reassigned?
- Do the custom software developers have clear documentation of everything?
Version All The Releases
Your solution/product doesn’t have to be one full version at a stretch. You can keep creating features and functionality that expand your vision. Release the first version, and add the missing things/ extra features in the later version.
Giving it a break and seeing how the first/previous works, is a bonus as you get to see what you want and what you don’t want. This is also a better solution than longer setbacks and increased timelines without seeing ROI. You can evaluate the software’s key features/factors like securities and other complexities.
Documenting everything on the way and for every version is easier when the internal and external teams change. For example, you can categorize the requirement documents, version documents, stakeholder requirements, client requirements, and general regulatory requirements for all the versions.
End-to-End Software Project Plan
Every company has varied custom software development steps that vary from the company’s industry. Each step should fulfill the project’s major goals and track them along the way. Ideally, a software project will have 5 stages – Planning, Design, Development, Testing, and Deployment. You can add or remove stages as per your requirement.
- Planning – All stakeholders identify the problems, objectives, timeline, budget, and scope of the software application. This will align everyone to the business or project goals.
- Design and Prototype – Schedule a meeting, discuss, assign roles and responsibilities to each team and individual, and design the “first” clickable prototype.
- Development – By this time, the team will have an idea of what is required from both software and hardware requirements. Develop the software and with the prototype approval, developers proceed to develop the final version.
- Testing – Apart from regular software bugs, we also need to check KPIs, quality assurance, legal checks, and future version requirements.
- Deployment – This is where migration and deployment on the respective platforms take place. This will be followed by maintenance, user training, and the versionalizing of the product.
You probably should be well on your own after all this. If you want to know what happens at Zaigo Infotech, our process and team look like this,
With the modernization of custom software development, you can always start with an expert in each team. It may be overwhelming, but setting up a team won’t automatically fix the project management process. We should constantly engage with the team.
To make them motivated throughout the custom software product development process, it is necessary to continue appraisal and discussions and be open to criticism to make them feel valued and motivated.
Always be ready to try something new with your team. If you have plans to hire offshore custom development services, we have one solution for you.
Work together with Zaigo Infotech!
Does it still paralyze you on where to start? It may be overwhelming for you to pick the right choice from a giant stack of your choice. Wander no more! We at Zaigo Infotech have been in this industry for many years. We can strategize and work together on the challenges of your IT solutions.
