As a software development company, have you ever felt that you could enhance the efficiency of your app development process? The three small changes can make a huge difference in how your software development processes are carried out:

  1. Cutting development costs,
  2. Optimizing productivity, &
  3. Completing projects on time

In 2023, defining & adopting a suitable software development methodology is integral to the success of your IT company. It facilitates smoother communication and sync between your development & operations teams. Eventually, it drives positive product development results.

However, the importance of choosing & adhering to a software development methodology highly depends on your organization’s team size, business goals, & client requirements.

In this article, we’ll illustrate various types of software development methodologies pursued in the market today. And after going through this script, you’ll get all the intel you need to understand which methodology will suit your software team the best.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

What Is Software Development Methodology?

Isn’t that the penultimate question that drove you to this blog? We figure yes, and it’s only fair enough to answer it right.

Running an IT development company, there might have been instances wherein your development team faced many challenges, usually because the customer representative team didn’t convey the technical requirements effectively.

In the real-world operation of software development services, your organization would face dozens of problems.

However, a structured workflow process & designing the philosophy/principles by which your team operates will enable you to attain positive business outcomes. It allows you to define the ruling principles & guidelines by which your software development team operates.

Put it concisely; a software development methodology is a deeply-embedded philosophy. It sets the course for how your IT organization operates and facilitates app development, including workflow structure & other external operations.

Till now, you’ll probably have some idea why there’s a need to choose a methodology. Here’s an overview of the most important factors for choosing the right app development methodology:

Factors To Consider When Choosing The Right App Development Methodology

You must choose the appropriate software development methodology based on certain parameters. By adopting the perfect methodology for facilitating your app development processes, you can benefit greatly in terms of saving time, money, & effort. These are the factors you need to consider.

Factors To Consider The Right App Development Methodology

Team Size

Your organization’s team size is a crucial factor in determining which app development methodology will suit the most. For small IT companies, the classic waterfall model is a great choice. For medium-scale software companies, agile software development methodologies, such as Scrum and Prototype, are good. For large-scale IT companies, methodologies such as DevOps & XP are great choices.

Software Tools & Technologies

The availability of modern software tools & technologies will also play a role in which software development methodology will suit your organization the best. When you have access to advanced tools, you can use them for implementing top-notch software tasks & achieve results in less time.

Client Project Requirements

Depending on the client’s project requirements, you’ll have to choose an app development methodology that helps to facilitate streamlined app development & submit the project within time. For projects that have active iteration requirements & code revisions, adopting methodologies such as Spiral & XP will be of the utmost importance.

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Why Is Choosing The Right App Development Methodology Important?

Customers are at the heart of driving every important decision. Hence, their satisfaction is of utmost importance.  Even more important is to keep revising your software development methodology with evolving needs.

The right app development methodology & strategy will enable you to build customer-centric products & make revisions from time to time. Here’s why:

  1. You can streamline various tasks & enable the separate teams to operate with enhanced efficiency, coordinating seamlessly.
  2. You can avoid several confusions throughout the app development phase & maximize productivity.
  3. You can erase the possibilities of last-minute changes/revisions & give clients detailed guidelines on how you operate.

There’s so much more you benefit from adopting a methodology suitable to your software development workflow. You can save time, money, and effort, & bet on the smooth progress of your app development.

Whenever there are design revisions, there’ll be a formulated procedure for incorporating them. Hence you can appease your customer’s requests & at the same time, maintain the feasibility aspect.

Types Of Application Development Methodologies

Over the years, various types of software development life cycle methodologies & philosophies have been developed. According to the workflow & organizational structure of IT service providers, visionaries & developers have revised how individual software teams can operate to complete projects on time & within budget. Let’s look at the top 8 types of software development methodologies adopted by several IT organizations today.

Types Of Application Development Methodologies

DevOps

DevOps is an organizational philosophy by which the internal software teams operate & collaborate seamlessly to complete projects on time & attain business goals. Both the development team & operation team remain in sync with each other throughout the app development phase via properly established communication channels. Software development pipeline efficiency is enhanced by adopting DevOps principles which promote the use of automation tools & cloud infrastructure management tools.

Pros of DevOps

  • Disintegration of Silos – The barricade between software teams is removed & internal software teams can collaborate seamlessly to work through design/code changes & implement them effectively.
  • Facilitates Speedy Development – Modern DevOps practices are facilitated by using automation tools such as Docker, Kubernetes, etc, and hence app development is carried out effectively.
  • Focuses on CI/CD – With continuous integration & continuous code delivery practices, you’ll stay up to date with customer trends & ensure the peak performance of your applications.
  • Budget Optimization – You can cut costs by not spending on unnecessary IT infrastructure & resources with DevOps practices such as Infrastructure as Code.

Cons of DevOps

  • Change Susceptibility – Bringing a cultural upshift in your organizational workflow process is technically challenging and requires great patience.
  • Takes Time for DevOps Adoption – It will take time for your software development team as a whole to achieve DevOps & become ingrained with its philosophies/practices.
  • Technically Challenging – As DevOps practices involve CI/CD, it will be technically challenging for the development & operation team as it involves iterative execution of changes.

Suitable For

When there’s a need to develop complex applications that require frequent revisions/code modifications, developers have to be adept at CI/CD. DevOps establishes the baseline to deliver projects on time, addressing client requirements throughout the app development phase. Expanding out of the discussed development scope is possible with DevOps methodology, allowing more flexibility in app development.

Agile

As the name suggests, this type of software development methodology involves incorporating an agile approach while conducting the app development process. The software teams are highly supportive & flexible to change, benefiting customers by building custom applications. More focus is given to collaborating with the customer throughout the app development process & tuning to their iterative development requirements. Agile software development methodologies are used to facilitate speedy app development & hence documentation is only done for the utmost necessary product development details.

Pros of Agile Development

  • High Customer Satisfaction – Customers are satisfied with the products you develop as their suggestions & feedback have been incorporated.
  • Shapes Evolutionary Mindset – Flexibility in accommodating changes optimizes the developer mindset to keep evolving & pushing beyond limits.
  • Enhances Productivity – Increased collaboration & interaction between development teams drive productivity measures.
  • Notable Progress – Progress is measured concerning the iterative steps of development involved. With each iteration in design/feature development, respective progress can be noted.

Cons of Agile Development

  • Lack of Extensive Documentation – Product documentation might be incomplete as the focus is on steady & agile development.
  • Scope Uncertainty – As iterations are involved throughout the app development phase, it’s hard to define the quantitative scope/effort that will be required.
  • Technical Turbulence – With an undue focus on customer requirements, the workflow will become disturbed & result in chaos.

Suitable For

Agile software development methodologies best suit IT organizations with fast-changing project requirements. When there’s a volatile demand for your IT services, you need to be quick at rendering them & agile software development is the best approach. In hindsight, your development team & other internal software teams must be highly independent to execute such rapid code integration & delivery.

Waterfall

No complications; this is as simple as it gets. We’re talking about old-school software development here. The waterfall approach to software development involves a classic series of steps that must be purposefully followed while executing the development. After the project manager gathers client requirements, they pass them on to the development team. Once the software is developed, it is passed to the QA & testing team and launched.

Pros of Waterfall Development

  • Classic Methodology – The sequential alignment & fixed procedure of steps make the waterfall method a sound software development methodology.
  • Erases Confusions – Unnecessary confusions are erased as the app development process doesn’t involve iterative development.
  • Optimizes Management – With deliverables achieved after each stage of app development, the entire project can be managed effectively.
  • Establish Exact Project Completion Time – With the waterfall method, it’s easy to dictate the scope of the project & hence curate the timeframe needed for completion.

Cons of Waterfall Development

  • Not Flexible – It’s impossible to incorporate design/feature changes post-development in this model as traversing back the steps is out of the option.
  • Unsatisfied Customers – Client feedback cannot be incorporated into the app & hence they might end up unsatisfied.
  • Extensive Documentation – Each & every minute detail is documented in the waterfall methodology, hence becoming very time-consuming.

Suitable For

The waterfall software development methodology best suits projects with a clearly-defined scope. When there are little-to-no unknown parameters & when customers are 100% sure of their product requirements, you can go forward with this development approach. Time for development takes a minimum curve & you can complete projects on time.

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FAQs

01

What Are The Various Types of Software?

There are various types of software, such as web apps, mobile apps, cloud-based applications, & much more.

02

How Many Types of Software Development Methodologies Are There?

There are 2 significant types of software development methodologies, namely: Agile & Waterfall. Several types of subsidiary app development methodologies exist, such as DevOps, Scrum, XP, etc.

03

What is the purpose of software development methodologies?

Development methodologies define the guidelines for uninterrupted workflow with techniques and steps. They aim to organize teams so that they can develop the features and elements in the best way possible.

04

Do DevOps Development Methodologies Require Cultural Change?

To implement DevOps software development strategies, a high level of cultural change is required. The whole team of IT developers & task managers needs to build an agile & flexible mindset to transition to DevOps standards.
About Author

Jayanti Katariya is the CEO of Moon Technolabs, a fast-growing IT solutions provider, with 18+ years of experience in the industry. Passionate about developing creative apps from a young age, he pursued an engineering degree to further this interest. Under his leadership, Moon Technolabs has helped numerous brands establish their online presence and he has also launched an invoicing software that assists businesses to streamline their financial operations.