When was the last time you and your team worked on a custom software development project? So before you begin your journey of designing a custom software application for your business, there’s a phase called “Phase 0” which helps you decide whether your custom software development project will turn into a success or a failure.
In my article, I will discuss the few first steps that organizations normally take to ensure their custom software development process does not fail. Getting into Phase 0 will help you reduce your risks of failing at the same time. It will remove all such intricacies and help you progress your custom software development toward its success.
Phase 0, commonly known as the “Envision and Plan” stage in custom software development, is one of the most popular methodologies in custom software’s technical planning.
Do you know that almost 75% of IT professionals believe that project leaders believe their projects will become a failure? By incorporating Phase 0, this dread of failing is minimized significantly.
With Phase 0, you can strategize the steps that need to be carried out to create custom software. It will involve all the prerequisites involved in accomplishing the process stage. With Phase 0 in effect, all the stakeholders involved in custom software development can easily visualize the objective of creating the custom software app. It helps clarify their vision for the software app.
Four Steps to Reduce Software Failure in Software Development
So what steps are involved in completing Phase 0? Here are the few basic steps involved.
Maintain Important Documentations
So before you begin with the initiation of custom software development, there are a few important documents that need to be in place. These documentations are important as they will define what features your custom software application will include. If you’re planning to perform software modernization, the documentation can contain existing feature sets and more such things.
These documents can help research what additional features can the custom software app can include in the near future. It will also help decide if a feature is obsolete and should be replaced or removed.
Such documents are important to maintain as they will decrease the ambiguities & misunderstandings between the entrepreneur & the software development company overviewing the project.
Determining the Technical Approach
The next phase involves the brainstorming session. It involves clients and software development teams to figure out the best technical approach to deploying the major system components.
The earlier you discuss deployment technicalities, the more effectively you will mitigate risks and improve outcomes.
For instance, if you’re planning to start a custom software program, what type of project management methodology will you choose? Will you resort to an Agile methodology or prefer Waterfall?
It will also help you discuss certain other technicalities such as managing risks, setting budget constraints, overcoming development delays & evolving the software as per market demand.
Creating a Work Statement
So before you move ahead to the build, deploy, and stabilize phase, start by creating a statement of work (SoW). An SoW will provide your client with a much clearer picture of how the overall app will appear to your client. Just like the other documentation, a statement of work (SoW) will also ensure that your product development will be error-free. It will remove all kinds of misconceptions regarding project failure and provide a much clearer picture.
Having a narrative description regarding what the project scope is and how different project activities will be carried forward will help you describe the deliverables and set the important timelines.
Predicting the Return on Investment (ROI)
Lastly, analyzing what profits the custom software development company in Dallas will produce is an important step that shouldn’t be ignored.
Here’s a step that most software development companies don’t discuss, and mostly the clients are highly eager to have that talk.
Since predicting the ROI is an integral part of the entire business, you must have that talk with your customers. Making informed decisions and calculating ROIs will give you better motivation and your software development teams complete the project.
Concluding Thoughts
Are you searching for a reliable custom mobile app development company to help you create Phase 0 for your custom software application? How about you hire one of our professionals to help you brainstorm the next-generation custom software application? At Branex, we believe in making your dreams come true. Contact Us so we can help you build the perfect custom software app.