Hiring Models for Software Development Projects

Yes, we're here to support you. You're not alone; developing requirements is vital in the software development lifecycle. According to the Lean Software Development principle, creating software is about generating knowledge. The more you understand your business needs, the better your chances of success. This is achievable when someone familiar with software intricacies thoroughly examines your business goals and ideas, offering various ways to integrate your concepts into a software solution in an easily understandable manner.

We will undertake this task by engaging in friendly discussions and transforming your idea into an interactive prototype that resembles the envisioned software. Following this, our focus will shift to integrating specific business logic into the software during later development stages.

In new concept-driven software projects, you're likely to initially provide only about 10-15% of the requirements. To define the rest, you must envision the proposed system from both user and business perspectives, discerning what's necessary and what isn't. Prototyping with minimal investment is the most effective way to do this.

Without a prototype, there's a high risk of overlooking essential data and opting for features that only add marginal value to the minimum viable product (MVP). Software dynamics suggest that 20% of features deliver 80% of the value. Thus, incorporating the top 20% of functionalities contributing 80% of the value is crucial for business success. Skipping this step increases the risk of developing an inappropriate system, necessitating significant revisions later on, which could result in unmanageable delays and, ultimately, discarding the system.

We're eager to help. However, before proceeding with an agreement, we'd like to review the project's functionalities, database, technologies, and any existing documents to ensure we can meet your expectations and make you a satisfied client.

Absolutely. It's essential, however, to choose a dedicated developer. You'll manage the project, including daily planning and oversight of work and reports. Our role will be limited to performing automated and semi-automated checks through our systems without directly supervising the developer's daily tasks.

Software development often sees 20% of critical tasks consuming 80% of the time. Typically, we conduct proof of concept (POC) for these critical tasks early in the project to avoid surprises later. Nevertheless, if these crucial tasks still need to be correctly identified and addressed early on, the final 10% could take longer than expected. Restarting might be wise if foundational elements like requirement development and system design were flawed.

Yet, if delays are due to resource issues or other external factors, and provided there are comprehensive documents and diagrams, we might be able to pick up where we left off.

The number of developers you need depends on the project's scope, size, and complexity. For small projects, a single dedicated developer might suffice for support tasks. However, introducing new features or making significant changes might require additional expertise. For innovative concept-based projects, you'll likely need a team of specialists as you can't expect an architect to do the mason's work, like constructing a building. While a single developer can make significant contributions, achieving the best results often requires a collaborative effort from various experts.

My short answer is no, even for an above-average developer. Developing a new software application, whether for the web, cloud, mobile, desktop, or blockchain, involves various tasks. Some tasks are analytical and require full-time dedicated effort, others are creative, some need extreme focus and problem-solving skills, and some require ongoing attention or patience. One person is unlikely to excel in all these areas, as they often require mutually exclusive human traits. While a single developer can create your application, it may lack certain aspects critical to business success. Moreover, it's not cost-effective for developers to perform tasks outside their expertise, such as creative design, leading to inefficiencies in time and quality across different areas like software architecture, design, and testing.

Your involvement will vary depending on the chosen project type and hiring model. With controlled agile development, you'll need to be deeply involved in the initial requirement development and user acceptance testing (UAT) phases and moderately so during the middle stages of the process. However, this can be scheduled at your convenience. If you hire a dedicated developer and manage the project yourself, Will you provide support after the project is delivered? You'll likely need daily involvement to plan, clarify tasks, supervise, and test developments.

We're committed to offering long-term support after your project is delivered. We aim to maintain a lasting relationship with you, and I'll be here for you unless you decide otherwise. Being a smaller company allows us to focus more closely on our clients, who have been with us for years, a testament to our dedication to long-term partnerships and support.

We begin by breaking down development activities into tasks that experts with the right skills can accomplish. We then estimate the hours needed to complete these tasks, considering the functional requirements and quality benchmarks. While we strive for accuracy, we acknowledge that our estimates may sometimes be spot on. Early-stage requirement elicitation and solid software design can significantly reduce the risk of exceeding our estimates by more than 20%, assuming no significant changes mid-development.

This depends on the hiring model. For fixed-fee projects under a controlled agile model, where the basic requirements remain unchanged, the cost stays the same even if our estimate increases due to requirement changes or improvements that add value to your product. For other models, the risk is on your side, offering you complete freedom to manage the project and developers as you see fit.

We aim to deliver on time for controlled agile hiring, potentially adding more resources if necessary. However, for agile development in general, we cannot guarantee this because initial requirements might only cover 10-15% of the full scope. Software development is an iterative process of knowledge creation; the more involved you are, the more your understanding of the project scope may expand, leading to increased development time and a higher chance of success.

We prioritise quality from the start, aiming to minimise the risk of defects in new developments. This involves thorough requirement exploration, expert-driven technical solutions, addressing acceptance criteria directly in code, and selecting appropriate tools, technologies, and frameworks. This approach helps prevent common errors and ensures the system's reliability and performance.

Active involvement is the best way to ensure quality. By participating in the project and contributing your insights when needed, you can see firsthand that the right processes are in place and that your input is being considered. Additionally, requesting test cases and reports can provide a tangible measure of our testing and quality assurance practices.

Unfortunately, no. Many companies assure quality without a precise definition, which can be misleading. Proper testing involves developers and dedicated testers who can independently verify the application against detailed test cases. While we encourage a comprehensive testing approach for all projects, we offer planning and setup of testing workflows at no extra cost, with actual testing services available for an additional fee if extra resources are required.

Your intellectual property rights are safeguarded through a service agreement. Any code, concepts, or services developed specifically for you are your property. However, pre-existing codes, technologies, or libraries used in your project remain the property of their original developers. However, you will have the right to use or modify them as needed under the terms of our agreement and any necessary licenses.

It is against our professional ethics. We have worked for overseas software companies since 2009, and none can claim that such has happened. It has not happened or will not occur even if we do not have legal agreements that address such points. However, to be safer, I suggest having it in the service agreement between us.