How to Quickly Develop High-Quality Software without High Cost

Quick, low cost, high quality—the three aspects of the software development process.

The project management “iron triangle” says you can achieve two of these aspects when developing your software product, but not all three.

At Taazaa, we respectfully disagree. 

We believe you can develop high-quality software quickly without burning through all your funding. Our clients believe it, too, because we’ve done it for them.

How do we do it? By asking a lot of questions upfront, designing and testing prototypes, and using a time-tested, iterative development methodology.

Let’s look at each ingredient of our secret sauce to reveal how our process overcomes the limitations of the iron triangle—and how you can, too.

Ask a Lot of Questions 

Before you begin work on a project, ask a lot of questions. Possibly an annoying amount of questions.

Learn everything you can about the product concept. Who are the users? What are their needs? How will the product meet those needs?

Don’t get blinded by the shiny bells and whistles. The features you think are most attractive might not be the core features that users actually need.

By digging deep into the whys and hows of a concept, you expose its true value: its usefulness in meeting business goals and user expectations.  

The features that meet those goals and expectations are what you should focus on developing first. That’s your shortest path to revenue. Once you have a viable product on the market, it can start making you money and attracting additional funding.

Develop and Test Prototypes 

Once you’ve identified the core features you think you should focus on, put them in front of users as prototypes. 

Prototyping is a low-risk, hands-on way of validating your assumptions. Prototypes don’t have to be functional, but they should give users a good idea of how the product works and what it will look like.

By letting users test your prototypes, you get immediate feedback about their likes, dislikes, and unmet needs. Make sure you’re face to face with them as they try your prototype, so you can take notes and ask questions.  

But most importantly, listen to what they have to say and use it to guide your planning—even if it challenges your assumptions and takes you in a different direction. Your ego may tell you the users are wrong, but the users are the ones who’ll be buying the product. 

If you listen to what your test users have to say about your prototype, you can save a lot of software development costs and time you would have wasted on developing dead-end features. 

Iterate 

Another way to reduce waste is working iteratively—both in the prototyping and development stages.

Working iteratively means producing functional software in short bursts, often called sprints. By continually delivering verifiable work, you get frequent feedback from product sponsors. If development starts down the wrong path, you know almost immediately and can quickly correct course.

In this way, iterative development keeps waste and rework to a minimum, leading to faster deployment and lower costs.

Move with the Target 

Another advantage of iterative development is that it helps you pivot quickly when needs change. 

No matter how much research you do or how many prototypes you test, there’s always the possibility your target will move. It could be a shift in the market, a competitor’s actions, or any of a hundred other reasons.  

If change comes at the wrong time and you’re not able to hit that moving target, it can seriously impact your bottom line—and your chances for success.  

We’ve found that Agile development methodology, combined with Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment, delivers the flexibility to react to change quickly without delaying time to market or degrading product quality.

Start with Done 

You’ve probably heard the adage, “Start with the end in mind.” In a software development context, that means clearing defining “done” at the project’s outset. 

When defining doneness, you need to answer three questions: 

• What are the product owner’s expectations? 
• How do other internal stakeholders define done? 
• How do external stakeholders define done? 

After you define done to everyone’s satisfaction, make all stakeholders aware of it. Put your definition of done on an information radiator (like a task board). Post it in a team room or somewhere else where developers will often see it. 

Working iteratively means producing functional software in short bursts, often called sprints. By continually delivering verifiable work, you get frequent feedback from product sponsors. If development starts down the wrong path, you know almost immediately and can quickly correct course.

Summing Up 

So, there you have it: Taazaa’s “secret” for defeating the iron triangle of project management. 

All you need to do is ask a lot of questions and define “done” upfront, design and test prototypes (and truly listen to user feedback), and adopt an Agile development methodology that incorporates continuous integration and deployment. 

Once you master it, you too will be able to develop software quickly, keep costs low, and end up with a high-quality product. 

Need Help? 

If you need to defeat the iron triangle but don’t have the time or resources to put our methodology into action, we’d love to help!  

Taazaa is a software development company that delivers fresh thinking and engineering on every project, and you’ll love working with our experienced team. 

Our team leverages the latest innovations, enabling you to solve complex business challenges and get your products to market faster. We develop software products with scale, stability, and security in mind. 

And we have a proven track record of leading the entire product lifecycle. Even if all you have is a sketch of your product idea, we can guide you through the planning stages, help you analyze the market, and then build a product that will wow your customers. We bring technical expertise and adhere to an Agile development methodology to ensure tight integration, timely delivery, and product success.

To learn more about our custom software development capabilities, give Taazaa a buzz!