Effective steps to develop your idea into a software product

Do you have a business or a product idea, but a little unsure of where to begin from? If you are a new player in the market, it is better to take guidance from professionals like Webdura. Don’t take chances if your idea is about a specific technology or a product that is supposed to have a digital presence. Most of the players in the market are at this stage of seeking help from professionals and there is nothing to worry about. The bottom line is that no matter what, you will find solutions at the end of the day!

What is the software development process?

Software development is simply the building of software. To make the software development process effective, practical and convenient, you need to find an optimal way of product realization.

Why is the software development process important? If you choose an optimal way of transforming feasible ideas into software products, your business will have plenty of advantages, some of which being:

• Meeting the ever-evolving business requirements on time
• Ensuring end-user satisfaction
• Benefitting from improved ROI
• Building brand reputation 
• Pushing the client and customer base thresholds to a larger degree etc.

The idea into the software product development process: Steps to follow

How can you build a software product? Start-ups, medium and large businesses have different requirements  

Based on our experience and prior knowledge in the field, we are presenting this article as a consolidated guide for realizing your software development ideas.

Step 1: Workshop and ideation

At this stage, we start building the foundation of your product concerning the value it will give to your users. The project ideas are discussed with the client, alongside other vital points like potential risks are identified, requirements are understood, and a development plan is created. After this stage, you will be able to explain the product and its value proposition can be determined.

This is the stage when you ask questions like: Where should you begin? Where do you intend to reach? What will you need? What are your goals? Ask questions that will help in realizing your ideas and try to seek clear-cut answers to the questions asked. By gathering such information, you can convey to your team what exactly you are looking forward to. And finally, let us get the ball rolling!

Step 2: Meet with the team to discuss requirements:

Discuss with your team of developers and testers the set of requirements and story points. Make them best understand the project as well as product requirements to ensure that you yield the best software product at the end.

Discuss the use cases and user stories with the team to give them a good idea from the end-users perspective. The team has to understand what the vision of the product is, to come up with the best version of the software product.

While developing, the team has to evaluate the probable defects that users might bump into and how good and useful a feature can be. The team has to treat the product as their own and develop the product with the mindset of the end-users.

Step 3: High-level product design:

The team of developers, testers, architects, product owners and project managers will create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) at each phase. In each phase, the product will have improved prototypes and at the end phase, we will have a perfectualised product in hand.

The system architecture and design should be structured at this stage. Data flows, flowcharts, data structures are shared with the team to understand how the system should work for the features and functionalities. The HLD will consist of two key elements:

1. Functionalities and attributes of components
2. Interactions and relations between various components

The HLD will help the team arrive at a suitable model. The HLD document helps in acquiring operational requirements. This technical documentation will be the reference manual for the team to understand how modules interact and how subsystems and components of the system fit together.

Step 4: Prototyping

Based on the requirements, prototypes are developed during the ideation stage. This way clients will get the ‘look and feel’ of the product. After the prototype is displayed, we gather the client feedback and wireframes are converted into designs. In addition to the wireframes, there will be visual style guides that are turned into detailed user stories. 

Step 5: MVP development and launch

During the product build, a series of iterations focused on specific functionality is executed. In each iteration, there will be drill down activities like analysis, design, construction and user review for specific modules. The programmer analysts will note down the requirements observed during the build.

For each build phases, we utilize different technologies:

• Project planning applications like Jira, Trello etc.
• Communication tools like Zoom. Slack etc.
• Wireframes utility tools like Balsamiq, Mockflow etc.
• Repositories like GitHub, Bitbucket etc.

A minimum viable product (MVP) with functionalities of the application will give a brief idea of the product for early adopters and investors. The MVP will give a better idea of the product’s market fit. Based on the feedback received from the early adopters and investors, software architecture is updated with necessary modifications.

Step 6: Product development

Based on the feedback received for MVP, a product roadmap is developed. At Webdura, software products, mobile apps and web apps are developed using agile methodology and innovative technology stack. The existing applications and legacy applications are moved to modern operating environments and platforms. During this phase, different processes like product development planning, project setup, project budget, resource allocation, product design, quality approval among others are performed.

Step 7: Testing

After product development, the QA team carries out unit testing of sprint-based deliveries assuring that the product meets the set quality standards. The QA team will make sure that the product is defect-free. Both automated and manual tools are deployed to execute working of the software and system components. Any errors, gaps and missing requirements that are contradictory to the actual ones are immediately resolved, thus ensuring smooth delivery of the final software product.

Step 8: Support and maintenance

Once you start using the software  product in the real world, it will need timely maintenance and support to enable smooth functioning. Such kind of maintenance at times require support services from 3rd party maintenance, OS and server migration, application monitoring and application improvement. 

Idea and into products: The benefits of doing it with Webdura

Choosing a software development company that can understand your software needs and guiding you on how feasible your ideas can be is very critical.

Why should you choose Webdura for converting ideas into products? Following are some reasons why:

• Faster time to market
• Cross-platform development
• Approaches like agile methodology that ensure greater success rate
• Project prioritization that will make sure that the right resources are working on the right project
• Comparative analysis between planned and actual specifications
• Enhanced internal and external collaborations
• Integrated with social, mobile, and analytics
• Enterprise integrations