Scope creep becomes inevitable, timelines get extended, and costs rise – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
And ultimately, this leads to project failure and you losing a lot of money.
But, if you have a well-defined process you will minimize the risk of your project failing – and build better software, too.
Next, we’ll go over the main steps you need to cover in your development process.
7 key steps of the software development process
Now, we’ll discuss the 7 key steps in the software development process in more detail.
Requirements gathering
Requirements gathering is the foundation of any successful software project.
The requirements define what your software will do and, more importantly, how it will meet user needs and business goals.
Getting them wrong is a great way to kill your project – 37% of projects failbecause of unclear or wrong requirements.
So, for successful development, you need to write a clear and accurate software requirements specification (SRS) document. Here’s what your SRS should include:
Now, every SRS is unique and yours might not need to have all of these elements.
In simple terms, functional requirements cover what your software does while non-functional requirements cover how it does it.
A good, easily understandable SRS document will help you keep development focused and your whole team on the same page.
And that’s key to successful development.
Key tips for requirements gathering
Involve all stakeholders early – You should set up workshops and interviews with all stakeholders involved in the project to get a comprehensive view of your requirements.
Document and validate requirements – Once you’ve gathered all your requirements you need to document them and share with your team as well as regularly validate them so they stay aligned with project goals.
Write in clear and concise language – You should write your SRS document in clear and concise language, to avoid misunderstandings and keep the whole team on the same page during development.
Planning and roadmapping
Once you’ve written your SRS, the next key step is planning and roadmapping development.
Here, you turn ideas into actionable steps and make sure that everyone knows what needs to be done, when, and by whom.
Without a well-thought-out plan, even the best ideas will fall apart – a strong roadmap will give your project structure and clarity.
So, how do you get it right?
The key is breaking down the project into manageable stages and:
Setting realistic timelines
Correctly allocating resources
Defining key milestones
Your roadmap serves as a visual guide to your project’s phases and contains all of these elements.
A clear and focused roadmap will help you keep development on track and allow stakeholders to easily track progress.
But, keep in mind that roadmaps aren’t just about setting dates – they’re about creating a clear vision for the entire project.
They give the whole team a clear path to follow and help manage expectations.
And that’s key if you want development done on time and within budget.
Key tips for planning and roadmapping development
Define key milestones – Project milestones mark significant progress, e.g. like adding a new feature, and they’ll help you motivate your team and give stakeholders insight into the progress made.
Set realistic deadlines – Overpromising can lead to burnout, missed deadlines, and frustration. Add buffer time to your original estimate to account for unforeseen delays.
Regularly review your roadmap – You might need to adjust the roadmap mid-development based on new information or unexpected challenges, so regularly reviewing it will help you keep the project on track.
Design
A well-executed design is key to the success of any software product.
But, design is about more than just aesthetics. Like Steve Jobs once said:
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and CEO
And that’s why there are several types of design you need to do during development, like:
Systems design – The process of defining the structure, components, and data flow of a software system, so that it meets functional and technical requirements.
Software architecture design – A high-level blueprint that defines the organization of a software product, including its modules, components, and how they interact.
UX/UI design – The process of designing your software’s visual elements, layout, and user interactions to improve usability and user experience.
Design is about taking the abstract ideas from the planning phase and turning them into a tangible product.
A good design will help you build a usable product with a great user experience (UX).
And investing in UX is one of the best decisions you can make – or every $1 you invest, you get $100 in return, for an ROI of 9,900%!
Out of all of these, user research is the most important.
You’ll get a clear understanding of user needs and create a design that actually meets those needs.
And that’s key to success.
Key tips for software design
Create a design system – A design system, which includes things like typography, color schemes, icons, and interaction patterns, will ensure consistency across different parts of the software you’re building.
Test early and often with users – User testing shouldn’t be an afterthought, you should do usability tests on wireframes and prototypes to catch potential pain points early.
Don’t neglect accessibility – Designing with accessibility in mind will both improve UX and broaden your user base.
Coding and development
Coding and development are where the magic happens.
Here, your team takes your requirements and design and turns them into working software.
And if you’ve nailed the previous steps, you shouldn’t have (too) many problems in this stage.
Even non-developers can see that the “after” is much easier to read and understand.
Development isn’t just about writing code and calling it a day – it’s about writing quality code.
And that’s the only way to build truly great software.
Key tips for coding and development
Follow coding standards and best practices – Sticking to established coding standards and best practices, like PEP 8 for Python or Google’s Java Style Guide, will improve your code’s readability and maintainability.
Test as you code – Writing unit tests and doing code reviews during development will help you catch bugs early and reduce the likelihood of costly fixes later.
Adopt continuous integration (CI) – CI tools automatically test and integrate new code with the existing codebase, ensuring that changes don’t break the software. This speeds up development and minimizes errors.
Testing and quality assurance (QA)
Excellent software quality should be non-negotiable – no one wants to use buggy, low-quality software.
And that’s where QA and software testing come in.
They ensure your software not only works properly but also meets user expectations.
Neglecting QA can cost you a lot of money.
Here’s a staggering statistic – poor software quality costs U.S. companies $2.42 trillion every year.
So, if you don’t want to become a part of that statistic, you need to invest resources into QA.
And you need to do it from the start of development. Fixing bugs after deployment can be up to 100x more expensive than fixing them at the start of development:
But, to do it right, you need a detailed testing strategy.
And that’s what you need to build high-quality software.
Key tips for software testing and quality assurance
Automate testing wherever possible – Automation speeds up testing and ensures repetitive tasks are handled quickly and accurately, which will minimize human error and speed up release cycles.
Start testing early – Don’t wait until the development is finished to start testing, because testing from the start will help you avoid costly fixes in the future.
Focus on real-world scenarios – Simulate user behavior across different devices, operating systems, and browsers to catch bugs that only happen when your product is actually used.
Deployment
Deployment is a make-or-break moment in the software development process.
This is where the software moves from developmentto the live environment and becomes accessible to end users.
And even with flawless code and design, a poorly executed deployment can lead to performance issues, downtime, or even complete system failure.
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So, how does it work?
The deployment process involves transferring code to production servers and configuring the necessary infrastructure.
Depending on your project’s complexity, this could be as simple as uploading files or as difficult as coordinating multiple services across cloud platforms.
But, the goal is always the same – a smooth transition with minimal disruption where everything works as intended.
A great way to minimize mistakes, especially when you’re making major updates, is blue-green deployment, where you run two production environments at the same time.
The new version is deployed to one (the “green” environment), while the old version remains live on the other (the “blue” environment).
Once the new version is confirmed to work, traffic is routed to the green environment, and the blue one can be used for rollbacks.
Effective deployment isn’t just about pushing code to production – it’s about delivering reliable, functional software to users without interruption.
Key tips for software deployment
Test in a staging environment before deployment – Before deploying to production, thoroughly test in a staging environment that mirrors the live environment so your software works as expected when it goes live.
Use automation tools – Deployment automation tools, like Ansible, can automate deployment processes, ensuring consistency across different environments as well as faster deployment.
Create a rollback plan – No matter how thorough your testing is, things can still go wrong in production. A rollback strategy allows you to revert to the previous version of the software if the new deployment causes issues.
Maintenance
Maintenance is the ongoing process of keeping software up-to-date, secure, and fully functional after deployment.
And it shouldn’t be an afterthought.
In fact, over an average software product’s lifetime, maintenance costs add up to over 50% of the total cost of ownership(TCO).
Corrective maintenance – Finding bugs and errors post-launch
Adaptive maintenance – Updating your product to work with new hardware and software environments
Perfective maintenance – Improving features and performance based on user feedback
Preventive maintenance – Updating security measures and optimizing code
Another key aspect of software maintenance is monitoring.
After you deploy your software, you need to continuously track its performance, security, and usage.
This will help you find and fix any issues as soon as they happen.
And that’s key to minimizing disruption.
Key tips for software maintenance
Automate updates and patches – Automating routine maintenance tasks such as security patches and software updates reduces human error and speeds up the process.
Do regular performance reviews – Performance optimization should be an ongoing activity and regular reviews of system performance will help you identify bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement.
Prioritize security – Keeping the software secure is a critical part of maintenance and regular vulnerability assessments and security patches will help protect against cyberattacks.
Scrum is a widely-used Agile methodology that emphasizes collaborative work in short, iterative cycles.
And it’s by far the most popular Agile methodology out there, with 81% of Agile teams using Scrum or a Scrum hybrid.
It’s designed for projects that require flexibility, where requirements can change rapidly.
So, how does it work?
Scrum breaks down your software development cycle into smaller (2-4 week) iterations called sprints.
Each sprint is like a mini development cycle, starting with planning all the way through to launch.
And at the end of each sprint, you have a sprint retrospective, where you discuss the previous sprint to find areas for improvement in the next sprint.
“In the first few sprints, you want to get the feel of what your team is capable of doing. After that, you’ll be able to assign tasks per sprint more accurately.”
Marko Strizic, DECODE co-founder and CEO
Scrum is the best fit for smaller teams (3-9 members) and dynamic projects with changing requirements.
And it’s a great choice if you need to get development done faster.
Scrum pros and cons
Pros
Flexibility
Transparency
Better collaboration
Cons
Needs discipline
Not suitable for all projects
Kanban
Kanban is an Agile visual workflow management methodology that helps development teams maximize efficiency and productivity.
Waterfall is a traditional development methodology that follows a linear, sequential approach to software development.
It has several distinct phases, each representing a step in the development process, from gathering requirements to final project delivery.
And each phase has to be completed before the next phase can begin, so it only goes in one direction – hence, the name waterfall.
Waterfall is one of the oldest and most structured methodologies, often used in projects with clearly defined requirements and predictable outcomes.
And while it’s outdated and largely replaced by Agile methodologies, it still has a place if you’re building complex, legally-restrictive software where you need to follow a bunch of different procedures and protocols.
Waterfall pros and cons
Pros
Simple to manage
Clear milestones
Thorough documentation
Cons
Inflexible
Higher risk of failure
V-model
The V-model, also known as the validation and verification model, is an extension of the waterfall methodology that emphasizes the importance of testing.
In the V-model, each phase of development has a corresponding testing phase, represented in a “V” shape.
Integrated development environments (IDEs) are software tools that offer everything you need for coding and software development in one place.
They combine several functions, like:
Code writing and editing
Debugging
Compiling
Version control
IDEs help developers write, test, and optimize code faster and with fewer errors.
Here are some of the top IDEs on the market today:
Android Studio – The official IDE for Android development, offers tools to build, test, and deploy Android apps.
Eclipse – A versatile IDE primarily for Java development, but also supports a wide range of different languages and plugins.
IntelliJ IDEA – A powerful, Java-focused IDE that offers smart code completion, debugging, and testing tools.
Xcode – The official IDE for developing iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS applications, provides tools for coding, testing, and debugging.
So, picking the right IDE and using its full set of features will help you build more reliable software, faster.
And that’s key to successful development.
Build tools
Build tools in software development automate processes like code compilation, running tests, packaging applications, and dependency management.
Automating these steps helps developers avoid repetitive tasks, reduces errors, and speeds up development.
Here are some build tools you should consider using:
CMake – A cross-platform build system generator that manages the build process of software using simple configuration files.
ESbuild – A fast JavaScript and TypeScript bundler designed for speed and efficiency in building web apps.
Gradle – A build automation tool that supports Java, Kotlin, and other languages, known for its flexibility and performance in managing dependencies and builds.
Maven – A build automation tool primarily used for Java projects, manages project builds, dependencies, and documentation.
In short, build tools are crucial if you want efficient development.
Choosing the right ones will help you significantly reduce development time and improve code quality.
And that’s exactly what you should want.
CI/CD tools
Continuous integration (CI) and Continuous delivery (CD) tools are a key part of modern software development.
They help teams automate code integration, testing, and deployment.
This means that new code is consistently integrated into the main codebase, tested, and deployed without the need for manual intervention.
Here are some of the top CI/CD tools on the market:
Bitrise – A CI/CD platform focused on mobile app development, automates build, testing, and deployment workflows.
CircleCI – A cloud-based CI/CD tool that automates the process of building, testing, and deploying software projects.
Gitlab CI/CD – An integrated CI/CD tool in GitLab, enables automated testing and deployment through pipelines.
Jenkins – A widely-used open-source automation server that supports building, testing, and deploying code continuously.
Also, CI/CD tools help you build software faster – organizations that have mastered it deploy 208 times more often and have a 106 times faster lead time.
And that’s why they’re so vital.
Version control tools
Version control tools help teams track code changes and maintain the integrity of their codebase.
These tools allow developers to manage changes to source code over time and provide a clear history of modifications, so if anything goes wrong, they can easily roll back any changes made.
Here are some version control tools you should know about:
Bitbucket – A Git-based version control platform for source code management and collaboration, supports both Git and Mercurial repositories.
Github – The largest platform for hosting Git repositories, offers tools for version control, collaboration, and project management.
Gitlab – A DevOps platform that provides Git-based version control along with built-in CI/CD, project management, and collaboration features.
In short, version control tools are the backbone of modern software development.
And they’re key to maintaining high code quality.
Software testing tools
Software testing tools ensure the quality, functionality, and security of any piece of software.
They help you find and fix bugs and make sure the software you’re building meets the required specifications.
Some of the most widely used testing tools include:
Appium – An open-source tool for automating mobile app testing across Android and iOS.
Jest – A JavaScript testing framework designed for testing React applications, supports unit, integration, and snapshot tests.
Playwright – An open-source tool used to automate end-to-end testing of web apps across multiple browsers.
Selenium – A widely-used tool for automating web browser testing, supports a huge number of different languages and browsers.
In a nutshell, without software testing tools, you can’t fix bugs and problems or build high-quality software.
And that’s why they’re so important.
Project management tools
Project management tools are used to organize, track, and deliver software development projects efficiently.
They help teams efficiently manage:
Resources
Tasks
Timelines
Communication
This ensures projects are completed on time, within scope, and within budget.
Some of the top project management tools on the market are:
Asana – A project management tool that helps teams track tasks, deadlines, and workflows for better collaboration.
ClickUp – A versatile project management platform that consolidates tasks, documents, goals, and timelines into one place.
Jira – An Agile project management tool that helps teams plan, track, and manage software development projects using boards, backlogs, and reports.
Trello – A visual task management tool that uses boards, lists, and cards to help teams organize tasks and workflows with a Kanban approach.
Project management tools help you organize and improve your development process and keep everyone on the same page.
And that’s why they’re indispensable.
Software development process: FAQs
The key steps in a typical software development process are:
Requirements gathering
Planning and roadmapping
Design
Coding and development
Testing and quality assurance (QA)
Deployment
Maintenance
The most important step in any software development process is requirements gathering.
Requirements define what your software should do, how it will do it, and how it can meet user and business needs.
Getting them wrong is the number one reason why projects fail, with 37% of software projects failing because of unclear requirements.
And that’s why requirements gathering is the most important step.
Agile development methodologies focus on rapid iteration, quick delivery, and flexibility so they’re more suited to dynamic projects with changing requirements.
On the other hand, waterfall methodologies are more structured and predictable, so they’re better suited to long-term, enterprise-grade projects with stable requirements.
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An Applied Sciences graduate and a true connoisseur of tech, Ivan is a software developer with a genuine love for exploring new technologies. QAs love his code, and his fellow developers always value his input. For Ivan, there is no issue too small to talk over, and no problem that can’t be solved together.
When he is not coding, Ivan is usually hiking or playing football. His ideal workspace? Probably a cottage in the mountains, with a serious gaming setup and fast internet connection.
