You need to know your company. You need to know how your team is structured, who makes what decisions, and your contacts.
You need to know the standards, the standards youll meet, the standards youll fail to meet. And you need to know what your budget is. You need to be able to articulate your vision for the project. But you also need to articulate its limitations and your willingness to change those limitations.
Custom or off-the-shelf software?
Whenever you see a custom solution, ask yourself: "Do I really need this?". The more often you ask yourself this question, the easier it will be to find the most appropriate off-the-shelf solution.
Every custom solution requires a lot of time to develop, costs a lot of money and requires experience. Custom solutions are costly and risky. They require you to think from the users point of view and deliver a product that has to conform to your systems peculiarities.
The alternative of buying an off-the-shelf solution may be more expensive, but it wont require much of your time, and it wont require your involvement in the development process.
Buying a solution will also help to reduce the risk. An off-the-shelf solution has already been tested, and you can be sure that it works. You wont need to experiment with it, and you wont risk learning from your own mistakes.
Of course, there are still risks. But more than in custom solutions, theyre related to the solutions implementation.
Its obvious that for financial reasons, most companies would prefer to buy an off-the-shelf solution. The risk is very low - the solution already exists, so there is no need to develop it from scratch.
Of course, there are situations in which the off-the-shelf solution would be unsuitable. However, in most cases, it will be possible to create a custom solution that will satisfy the needs of a specific business but which can also be sold in the future.
The main qualification for off-the-shelf solutions is to fulfil all the requirements for a certain market. There is no point in spending money on a solution that your customers will reject.
So, why could an off-the-shelf solution be your best option? Heres a list of reasons to opt for it:
The fact that its off-the-shelf software lowers the cost. The developer would have to create a whole new component, test it, install it, support it, and so on.
With off-the-shelf software, you pay once, and you get what they give you.
For bigger systems, the cost is lower because youre buying several things at once.
On the other hand, off-the-shelf software often isnt as flexible and customizable as custom software. So, if your requirements are unique, off-the-shelf software isnt for you.
Finally, sometimes, off-the-shelf software isnt appropriate. Sometimes, you need something thats tailored to your business and that off-the-shelf software wont offer.
The only way to know what kind of software you need is to understand your companys processes. Only by talking to the people who have the day-to-day tasks can developers understand the problems complexity.
Unfortunately, most companies dont talk to their clients. The design process is for the client, not for the clients staff.
The client sees the software as the solution to a problem. But the developer sees the problem. Negotiation between client and developer happens when the developer presents the final result.
The client sees the result but understands nothing about the development process. It is not unusual in large companies for the client to completely misunderstand the development process. It is not unusual for developers to be ignorant of the clients needs.
So, who wins the negotiation? The developer. The client sees the final result, and the client wins. But the developer had to know the clients needs to design the result.
But the client should have won. The client should understand the problem. The client should want to be part of the solution.
The client can make better choices about technology than the developer can. The client also understands the organization. The client knows who the clients staff are. The client has a better grasp of the organizations needs than the developer does.
The client knows what will happen if the developer has insufficient resources to finish the project. The client knows what will happen if the developer makes bad decisions. The client knows what will happen if the developer makes bad decisions.
Choosing the right technology stack
The technology stack is the set of technologies youll use to build your product. If you sell software, it may make sense to start with something like Ruby on Rails.
If you sell hardware, it may be better to start with Arduino. But there is no right way.
The stack includes technologies that are important to building your product and technologies that are interesting in and of themselves.
Technologies that are important for building your product should be part of your stack. It doesnt matter what technology they are in. Technologies in the stack are coupled. A technologys place in the stack tells you something about its place in the products architecture.
A technologys place in the stack also tells you something about your development partner. If your development partner doesnt have a deep understanding or is unwilling to learn of the technologies in your stack, you should probably look elsewhere.
From the point of view of the non-technical founder, the stack choice is a bit like choosing a spouse. The stack is the foundational architecture on which everything else is built. It is that which determines what gets done and what doesnt get done.
The stack you choose can live or die with you.
In the early days of a start-up, the stack doesnt matter all that much. The founders are the product people. Technology is just a tool.
The technology eventually does matter. Eventually, all the code you have ever written will have to be rewritten. And if you are sloppy, or you think programmers are cheap, or you dont know how to hire, or you dont think programmers are important, or you dont think programmers can be trusted, or you have some appalling management style, or you insist on picking the wrong people in the first place, you will end up rewriting all that code anyway.
You will be rewriting it from scratch.
There are lots of good programmers. It is hard to find good ones. And good programmers cost money.
Picking the wrong stack, then, is like getting married. Its obvious. You pick the wrong person, or you spend a fortune, or you wind up hating your spouse.
So, before you get married, you want to know if the person you are marrying has a working car. You want to know if she can cook. You want to know if she is a good person. You want to know if she can trust you. Okay, heres the thing.
If you choose a start-up stack, it doesnt really make any difference in what cars she has, whether she cooks, or whether she can drive. What counts is whether she can work, whether she can code.
Front-end development stack
What your user sees and interacts with is the front-end of your app. Your front-end tech stack will include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and (optionally) JavaScript (AngularJS, ReactJS, etc.) and presentation (Bootstrap, etc.) frameworks if you need a web application.
If you want to make a mobile app, youll need Swift for iOS and Java or Kotlin for Android.
Back-end development stack
The backend part of your software is the stuff that powers your web app or mobile app. If you need an app, your backend tech stack will include an HTTP server (Apache, Nginx, etc.), a database (PostgreSQL, etc.), and (optionally) a caching solution (Memcached, etc.).
Selecting the right one - The agile method
The main thing to keep in mind is that agile development is not a set of software development techniques, nor is it a collection of process models.
It is a set of guidelines that can be applied to any software development project. Agile development principles are guidelines that guide how the team approaches their work. They recommend ways to make the software development process more efficient and effective.
The principles are high-level guidelines. They do not tell you what to do. They dont tell you to "use agile" or "choose Scrum" or "use XP." The principles are signposts, not fences.
Agile development principles are a set of guidelines that define what successful agile software development is. Agile development principles ensure the project stays on track and that the team and product meet the business needs.
The principles are not "absolute." They describe ideal situations. Agile development principles are not rules. They are guidelines. They are not intended to form rigid rules but rather to stimulate discussion.
Agile development principles require discussion. A discussion should lead to the teams agreeing on principles that they feel are right for them. The principles should lead to a discussion.
The principles do not tell you what you should do. They tell you what "right" looks like.
Determining the development budget
The first factor, of course, is the number of working hours. If you estimate how many working hours it would take to implement your requirement (which, if you dont know, now would be the time to find out), multiply that number by the desired hourly rate.
Then you have to consider, how much time do you have? If youre an employee, then you probably have a schedule to follow. If you work freelance, then you may need to juggle multiple projects at once.
You also have to consider any potential bottlenecks. If you have a lot of legacy code, you need to factor this in and system architecture.
You may have to factor this into your initial estimates, or you may have to factor this in later as your application grows. You also have to consider any cost factors. If youre outsourcing development, youll need to factor in the cost of travel and the cost for the employee(s) working on the project.
You also have to factor in your patience threshold. It might seem like a good idea to get the cheapest quote, but wouldnt you rather have the best quality? After all, you get what you pay for.
You also have to factor in any time constraints. If you need to do your project now, you may need to factor in the cost of delays. You also have to factor in the lack of necessary resources.
If you have limited resources, you may need to factor in the cost of hiring those resources. You also have to factor in the learning curve. If youre hiring someone to do development outside of your organization, you need to factor in their learning curve.
You also have to factor in the cost of not doing it right the first time. Sometimes, even if you have the best resources, your solution wont be as good as it could be.
You also have to factor in the cost of managing your project. Its hard to estimate, but, indeed, theres always something going on with your project. So, factor in the cost of meeting deadlines.
How you can develop and own software with a tight budget?
Time & material
The time & material pricing model is very flexible. It lets you decide how much work you want to be done, and you can add or remove hours at any time.
The hourly rate is adjusted accordingly.
Time & material projects are usually more expensive than the fixed-price model, but they will be profitable in the end because you will have more control over the time and budget.
The fixed-price model, by contrast, involves some risk. You set a budget, and the developer must stick to it. If the project exceeds the budget, you will have to pay extra charges.
If the project runs over the time agreed, you will be penalized.
Fixed-price projects are often cheaper than the time & material model, but they wont bring an immediate return.
In the long run, fixed-price projects are more likely to cost more money than they save. The hourly model is probably the simplest and least risky. You pay by the hour, but you wont be penalized for going over budget.
Fixed-price
A fixed cost will both give you more certainty and reduce the risks of overruns. But it also removes any chance of profit.
Most business contracts involve a price, even if they dont call it a price. In a standard fixed-cost contract, lets say you give me a fixed amount of money for marketing, and I give you a fixed amount of time.
The Time & Material model works because neither party can know in advance how much the other wants. Each gets as much out of the contract as the other party is willing to let them get.
But a fixed-cost contract doesnt involve a price. But both parties can still get as much out of it as possible. So, both parties try to get as much out of the contract as possible.
One way to try to make the fixed-cost model work is to use risk-sharing. You pay me a fixed amount of money, and Ill pay you if the project is late.
Source code ownership
Youve written an open-source project, and you think youre all set. But now comes the hard part. In an open-source project, you are both producer and consumer.
You produce the open-source code, but everyone else who might want to use it -- or modify it -- is the consumer. To make matters worse, it is not at all clear that you own your code. In 1979, researchers from Bell Labs published a paper called "Copyright for Computer Programs," which held that computer programs were, in effect, intellectual creations and that, therefore, programmers owned the copyrights.
Then, in 1988, the US Supreme Court ruled in Data General v. LMI that copyright law did not cover computer programs and that software companies owned the copyrights. This ruling was followed by a string of similar decisions, which effectively gave software companies the right to claim copyright to every single line of code.
The Data General ruling has been challenged, but for all practical purposes, it still stands. Since Data General, companies large and small have taken advantage of the ruling and argue that they own the code they distribute.
This claim is based on contract law and, in some cases, on copyright law. But its often ignored that software companies often demand the right to sublicense. That means they can sell the code to someone else and that someone else can in turn sublicense.
The result is that even if you own the open-source project, someone else may own it. And you may be able to buy it, but thats not the same as owning it.
Development plan
The number of hours needed to develop each new feature depends on the complexity. A complex feature requires more than one developer, so you divide the development time into several iterations for complex features.
For example, a feature with 20 hours of development is divided into six iterations.
For simpler features, you can estimate the number of hours required, for example, by listing the tasks that need to be done.
For a complex feature, you estimate the number of hours required by adding up the tasks to be completed.
For tasks not on the list, you can estimate the time needed by estimating how much time the development team needs to accomplish them.
For example, if the marketing guys need two weeks to prepare the marketing materials, you need two weeks to complete other features. For tasks on the list, you can estimate the number of hours required by dividing the number of hours for each task by the number of developers.
For example, if each developer needs 3 hours to complete a task, you need 15 hours to complete a task. If there is some uncertainty about the number of hours required, estimate the number of hours required using a simple formula, for example, n * h, where n is the number of iterations and h is the number of hours required to complete a feature.
For example, if h=2, you need 2 * 3 = 6 hours to complete a feature.
To help estimate the number of hours needed, you can estimate the number of hours that developers spend to complete each task, for example, by adding up the hours spent.
You can estimate the number of hours required for each task by adding up developers hours to complete it.
Enterprise Java Development Services
In todays competitive business environment, enterprise app development is practically a given.
And deployment frequency is more important than ever. Indeed, you may be aware that the highest-performing IT organizations deploy more applications more frequently, such as multiple deployments per day, instead of once a month or once every six months for lower-performing IT organizations.
Enterprise Java software development solutions for various industries, includes financial services, banking, insurance (BFSI), media and entertainment, lifestyle, real estate, retail, e-commerce, and more.
The professionals of this development companies understand which Java technologies can be a great strategic fit for your company and help you enhance ROI.
They can also assist you in developing custom enterprise Java development solutions capable of transforming core operations and scaling new opportunities through market research, prototyping, and cutting-edge infrastructure.
Offering a diverse range of enterprise Java services such as Enterprise Collaborations, Real-time Decentralized Computation, BRM and Automation Process Improvement, and so more,
Final Words
Overwhelming? It certainly can be, and theres no shame in that. Custom software development is not an easy task.
As a result, you must ensure that you do not become disoriented during your journey. We hope our guide has made it clear what lies ahead for you.
If you are looking for a development company, please contact us to discuss your project. Well assist you in making all of the right decisions and avoiding common pitfalls so that you can get your solution out there in the world on time.
