The software development industry has always impacted all companies in the world, but in the last two years its influence has been especially favorable to all businesses. Remote work has increased like never before, online businesses and all kinds of digital platforms have been born, so the demand for software developers has been difficult to meet by many software development companies.
For example, according to a Statista report, in the first quarter of 2021, users downloaded more than 30 million apps from Google Play and the Apple App Store, the Android and iOS mobile app stores. This type of user behavior has made more and more companies want to have a digital presence, whether through a website, a web app or a mobile app. And this is where software development experts come to the rescue.
Importance of software development methodologies
When we talk about software development, we refer to the process of creating, designing and implementing software, whatever its nature. It sounds simple, but it is quite a complex task, with numerous technical dependencies that, if not handled properly, can lead any project to failure.
For this reason, it is essential that we talk about the most effective software development methodologies that a developer can and should apply so that the project and the platform that he is creating has the optimal performance possible.
According to Slashdata figures cited by the Daxx portal, in 2021 there are 26.9 million active software developers worldwide, a figure that will rise to 45 million in 2030 according to estimated projections. Can you imagine that each of these developers worked differently? It would be chaos, since the work would not be standardized, being very difficult to evaluate the quality of the development, monitor the project or detect improvements.
Thanks to the different software development methodologies that exist, software engineers can execute each of the software development stages in an orderly and planned manner, keeping track of the tasks they are doing and correcting on the fly if there are any problem to look at.
What are the most used software development methodologies?
Agile Methodology
As its name suggests, this methodology is focused on fast and efficient software development, maximizing efficiency, and reducing waste of time and resources. The development is done in parts, correcting the errors that each of these parts present, without waiting until the end of the development to validate the software in which they are working.
“The main benefit of agile software development is that it allows the software to be published in iterations. Iterative versions improve efficiency by allowing teams to find and correct defects and align expectations early on. They also allow users to obtain the benefits of the software sooner, with frequent incremental improvements”, explained the Synopsys technology website.
One aspect that characterizes the agile methodology is that it is based on collaboration. It is always open to experimentation, change and improvements, being a very flexible method when developing any software.
DevOps methodology
It focuses on software development based on excellent communication and collaboration between the departments responsible for product development. This is very beneficial, according to an article by Spaces Technologhies, since errors are minimized thanks to the fact that the development team and the departments work closely, having clearer the scope of the project and what the company needs.
"It minimizes interruptions, there are fast and continuous deliveries of the software that is being worked on and it promotes the continuous integration of the teams," they added. It should be borne in mind that working with this methodology requires highly experienced software developers who are adapted to work collaboratively and with a lot of interaction.
Scrum methodology
It is an agile software development methodology, which is based on the creation of software progressively by sprints, adjusting the development week by week with the client. "The goal of each sprint is to produce an imperfect but progressive version of a product to bring to stakeholders, so that feedback can be immediately integrated into the next sprint," said an article on the Easy Agile specialized portal.
“The Scrum approach is best suited for managing projects with input and customer specifications that are not clearly defined. Teamwork, openness and frequent status reports accelerate the success of the project”, complemented experts from Space Technologies.
Cascade methodology
The waterfall method is one of the most common in software development, also one of the oldest. Unlike previous methodologies, it is a much more rigid development model since it is made up of several stages that must be 100% completed before moving on to the next one. Although it is excellent to develop projects in a clear and planned way, it is not very effective if the project presents modifications midway since it is not such a flexible development methodology.
Now that you have a clearer picture of the most used software development methodologies, you can ask your technology partner about which ones he is using to develop his projects.
At Rootstack, we work with agile software development methodologies, ensuring the highest quality with the best results. In record time, you will have in your hands optimal and functional software for your company. Let's talk!
We recommend you on video
