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The software development life cycle (SDLC) defines tasks that are performed at each stage in the software development process. The SDLC is a structure followed by a development team within a software company.

The SDLC consists of the following activities:

• Planning: The most important stages of software development—requirement gathering or requirement analysis—are usually completed by the most skilled and experienced software engineers in the organization. Once all the requirements have been gathered from the stakeholders, the next step is to determine the scope of the project and create a scope document.
• Implementation: The software engineers start coding according to the client's requirements.
• Testing: This step helps reveal defects or bugs in the created software.
• Documentation: Every project has its own documentation for every step and future reference. This helps a lot with improvements in the development process. The design documentation may include the described interface in a written form (API).
• Deployment: After it is approved, the software is released.
• Maintaining: Software maintenance is done for future reference. Software upgrades or changes can take longer than the creation of the initial software variant.

Agile software development involves different ways of dealing with software development in which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative efforts of self-organizing and cross-functional teams and their customer(s) or end user(s). It includes adaptive planning, cutting-edge development, early delivery, and further maintenance, and it encourages rapid and flexible reactions to any changes.

The qualities and standards espoused in this manifesto were derived from and underpin a broad range of software development frameworks, including Scrum and Kanban.

The price range is very broad and there are numerous aspects that contribute to the costs of custom software development.

What Impacts the Cost of Custom Software?

Consider the following factors when determining the costs of and creating a budget for custom software development.

• Software Size: The more screens or pages an app has, the more work needs to be done to create an application, and the more expensive it will be to deliver. Small applications range from 10–25 screens, medium applications range from 25–40, and large applications include anything with more than 40 screens or pages.
• Software Complexity: Complicated logic takes more time to code and test. If a custom software application performs a lot of heavy analysis, scoring, or number crunching, or if a code has a lot of nuances and permutations, this complexity will require more focus and could increase the cost.
• Creative Design: Creative design in custom software development is where a customer gets to choose different fonts and color palettes, among other things. Much like when someone is designing and decorating a house, the more extravagant the design needs and wants, the more expensive the costs tend to be.
• Integration With Other Systems: Integrating with other systems introduces a lot of unknown variables into the final cost. Sometimes the integrations are effortless, but sometimes they are extremely difficult. Typical integrations, such as popular payment providers or credit check services, are easy to integrate. However, older or lesser-known systems may pose a challenge and increase the project cost and duration.
• Migration of Existing Data: If you have data in an existing system that needs to be moved into a new application, assuming it is more than someone can feasibly type in by hand, then it will require migration. Migration is nothing more than custom scripts that take data out of an old system, dust it off, and reshape it so it can fit into the new system. The steps of this process are fairly straight-forward, but there are a lot of questions and decisions that need to be made since the two systems will store the data differently. Migration is run a few times after the software is completed to make sure everything has been translated correctly and the new system is using the data as desired. The time spent on figuring out the translation rules, writing the scripts, and performing tests and adjustments will add to the project duration and costs.

To find a dedicated team that will help you carry out your tech project (or at least its tech part), go through:

• Freelance platforms like Upwork
• B2B portals like Clutch
• GitHub or StackOverflow
• Outstaff vendors like Relevant

Usually, these are countries from Asia, Eastern Europe, Central, and South America.
Our on-demand dedicated engineering teams are located in Eastern Europe, Ukraine.

The time & material model means that you're paying for the result of your cooperation with the vendor's team. No coffee-drinking, social-media-scrolling time included. It's your way to go if:

• you have a small project
• all you have is a concept or idea
• you're planning to build an MVP
• you don't know the target market
• you need updates or minor features
• the scope is dynamic
• your project doesn't have the requirements, price or deadlines figured out yet

The dedicated team and the time & material models share some similarities, like efficiency and flexibility, and some cons, too. For example, both models require the client to communicate with the outsourced team frequently.

Largest advantage: The time & material model is result-oriented.

Largest disadvantage: It's hard to plan or control the budget.

The fixed price model means that you and the software development vendor you're partnering with have agreed on the scope, the deadline, and, as the name suggests, the price of the project. This is the critical part: the model doesn't allow the product requirements to change much.

The dedicated team and the fixed price models have a crucial trait in common: when you sign up for either of them, you know when to pay, whom, and how much. Since the team, the scope, and the deadlines are agreed upon in advance, there will be no budget-related surprises.

Go for the fixed price model if:

• your project has extensive specs and a clear goal or results
• all the procedures are known and negotiated beforehand
• the deadline is set in stone
• you don't feel the need to control everything
• you aren't planning to change anything about the project in the process

Largest advantage: You can plan your budget ahead.

Largest disadvantage: Less flexibility in terms of the project scope.

The outsourcing vendor is usually the one who handles all the legal aspects of hiring and maintaining IT programmers. However, you will have to consider the following:

• Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). The document has to state what information is considered confidential, that a person can use the disclosed information for the project purposes only, and what the penalty is.
• Statement of Work (SOW). This document should specify the scope of work, the deliverables, the schedule, the acceptance criteria, the duration, the standards, and any other terms, conditions, or special requirements for the future project.
• Master Services Agreement (MSA). This document defines your cooperation with the vendor. It is the place where you want to specify the terms of payment, dispute resolution, and intellectual property rights.