So, you’ve finally decided to build customized software for your company. You’ve aligned all the resources and have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve. Now you need to know which software development methodologies you want to choose for developing your software. 

In today’s blog, we’ll help you choose the right software development methodology for customized software. Keep reading, as we’ll explore four customized software development methodologies in 2024.

But first, let’s study what software development methodologies exactly are, and why choosing the right one is necessary for development. 

What is a Software Development Methodology?

Software development methodology is a synonym to describe a structured approach to building software. It’s like a recipe that outlines the project deliverables and also decides on a suitable strategy for coordination among team members for the completion of tasks.

A software development methodology can be broken down into the following parts. 

1. Planning and defining requirements

The first part is to identify exactly what you want from your custom software. So, identify who your stakeholders will be, and what is the criteria for success. For example, do you want to create a structured database that provides centralized access to all your employees?

Once you have a roadmap, you have set measurable targets for your teams. Thus, it is easy for you to evaluate your development team’s productivity. 

2. Breaking down work into smaller tasks

Once you have decided what your requirements are, it’s time to break your work into smaller tasks and assign them to the relevant team members according to each methodology. 

Breaking down the workload into smaller tasks reduces the responsibility of each member, and allows for a concentrated effort that yields productive results. 

3. Ensuring communication among team members

Once you have divided the tasks among team members, it’s your responsibility to ensure that there are no barriers to communication. You can do this by regularly holding sprint meetings to discuss project progress with all your team members. 

4. Testing and quality assurance

Once the software is complete, it is tested to ensure that it is bug-free and fully functional. The process involves the implementation of the CI/CD pipeline to ensure rigorous testing and functionality of each deliverable of the software. It makes software development beneficial for ERP systems.

Now, let’s look at the four software development methodologies that you can use in 2024.

Top 4 Software Development Methodologies in 2024

The Top 4 methodologies that you should include in your software development life cycle are as follows. 

1. The Waterfall Development Methodology

Imagine yourself as the leader of a team of software developers. You follow the traditional development approach where you separately complete each deliverable of the project before going on to the next. Doesn’t this resemble a waterfall?

That’s precisely why it is known as the waterfall approach. Now how does this translate into the methodology? As part of the waterfall approach, you’ll be creating focus teams that focus on each aspect of the project sequentially, such as requirements, design, implementation, verification, deployment, and maintenance. 

Once each stage is completed, the team cannot move back to that stage. It’s similar to a waterfall that fills pools. 

So, what are the pros and cons of this methodology? 

Pros

• The model is easy to understand because of the upward-going linear approach that it provides. One milestone is completed at a time, which makes it easier for teams to understand each step. 

• Because the model is easy to understand, it is a great choice for smaller projects, as their requirements can be determined upfront, creating an organized workflow that results in the quick completion of tasks. 

• Adopting this model is a good starting point for less experienced/rookie project managers who need a launchpad to hone their skills. 

Cons

• The waterfall model is rigid. As a result, there is no room to revisit and make changes to prior stages. The model may work well for smaller projects but doesn’t sit well for larger, more complex projects. 

• Due to the model’s nature of requirement gathering, teams may spend too much of their time on documentation rather than providing meaningful solutions. As a result, we may see jerks in the development process. 

2. Agile Development Model

The agile development model is perhaps one of the most common approaches in the field of software development. In comparison to the traditional waterfall approach, this software development methodology takes a rather unconventional approach. 

In the agile methodology, your goal is to deliver quick solutions for the user. As a result, there is less focus on documentation and more focus on getting things done. 

Progress is monitored with the help of sprint meetings, and customers are always kept in the loop with the project’s progress. 

Any changes suggested by the customer after the completion of one stage are implemented before advancing to the next stage. Regular testing is also carried out at intervals to ensure that the software is free from bugs and glitches. 

    Now, let’s evaluate the positives and negatives of using the agile methodology.

    Pros

• The software has minimal defects because of the rigorous testing that takes place at each stage of the model. 

• You don’t need to scrap off the entire product and rework it from scratch. Any changes in a particular deliverable are made during development. 

• Holding weekly sprint meetings allows uninterrupted communication among team members, which promotes clarity and outlines clear expectations. 

   Cons

• The agile development methodology allows for customer feedback, which is a welcoming prospect but leads to issues as well because of overwhelming requests from the customer, resulting in a haphazard workflow which may lead to job burnout.

• Since the agile methodology has an unstructured approach, meaning that anything can strike at any time, it requires a more experienced project manager who can handle high-pressure situations. 

3. The Lean Methodology

The lean software development methodology is focused on Toyota’s lean manufacturing principles that focus on eliminating wastage. The core values of the lean methodology are to encourage continuous learning and only make decisions once all the pros and cons have been evaluated. Developers also identify the potential bottlenecks in a project and make a workaround to eliminate them before starting work. 

The pros and cons of the lean methodology are as follows: 

Pros

• It cuts down unnecessary wastage in the product, such as redundant code, unnecessary documentation, and repetitive tasks. Thus, the developers can focus on productive tasks which provide value to the final product. 

• Because of less wastage of resources and efforts being incurred, the cost of the final product is low, which further improves the profitability of the work done. 

• Implementation of the lean software methodology also decreases the time in marketing the software because of its efficiency. 

Cons

• For the lean methodology to be a success, your developers should be highly skilled, because if that’s not the case, then they won’t know how to reduce wastage, and which decisions to not take to promote efficiency. Thus, implementing a lean development approach is impossible. 

• Lean methodology requires enormous amounts of documentation, which puts a burden on developers and business analysts, overwhelming the team. 

4. Prototype Model

The Prototype Methodology is an iterative approach to software development that prioritizes early user feedback and continuous refinement.  

Inspired by the concept of building physical prototypes, this methodology emphasizes creating simplified, working models of the software to gather feedback and validate requirements before full-scale development begins.

Pros

• Prototypes allow users to interact with a basic version of the software early in the development process. This enables gathering valuable feedback on usability, functionality, and overall user experience, leading to a more user-centric final product.

• By identifying and addressing issues early through the testing of prototypes, the risk of major rework later in development is significantly reduced. This saves time and resources.

• The process of building and refining prototypes helps solidify and clarify software requirements. Ambiguous or incomplete requirements become apparent during user testing, leading to a more focused and efficient development process.

Cons

• Working on the prototype software development methodology requires additional time and resources upfront. This needs to be factored into the overall project timeline and budget.

• User feedback and prototype iterations can lead to feature creep, where additional functionalities are continuously added, potentially pushing the project beyond its initial scope.

• Prototypes are typically not fully functional versions of the final software. This can make it difficult for users to envision the complete product and provide comprehensive feedback.

The Ending Note

Software development is a highly complex process that requires a carefully orchestrated approach to ensure optimal results. Before going on board with the software development process, it’s important to choose a suitable software development methodology. 

A good software development methodology clearly defines resource requirements, helps break down work into smaller tasks, and ensures continuous communication among team members. 

There are four main types of software development methodology, which include the waterfall method, the agile method, the lean development method, and lastly, the prototype approach.