According to a 2021 Report from the Consortium for Information & Software Quality (CISQ), for the year 2020, the total cost of Poor Software Quality (SPSQ) in the US is $2.09 trillion (T). They determined the largest contributor to CPSQ is operational software failures due to unmitigated flaws in software (a 22% growth over two years). The next largest contributor was unsuccessful development projects totaling $260 billion.

As we wrote in our blog Custom Software Development in 2021 : The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, custom software solutions (or bespoke software) has many advantages compared to off-the-shelf solutions. However, without proper planning of both internal and external business and development teams, many software development projects are doomed to fail.

Developing software is much more involved than simply writing and maintaining the source code, it incorporates all that is involved between the identification of the business/consumer need and conception of an innovative idea, through the rigorous planning process to deliver and maintain the final software solution. It involves the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

Software development planning will largely determine your success or failure, as it is essential to fully realize stakeholder needs, goals and objectives, a timetable for deliverables and revisions, and a full grasp of the costs and resources needed. Here are seven steps to create a successful custom software development plan, whether you choose to conduct these steps internally or through a third-party vendor.  

There are eight key steps to developing a successful custom software solution:

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• Software Development Analysis (Discovery)

• Software Development Planning

‍• Software Development Cost Estimating

‍• Software Requirements and Feasibility Analysis

‍• Design and Prototyping

• Development and Coding‍

‍• Software Integration and Testing

• Software Implementation and Deployment
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Developing your own custom software does not have to be a nightmare of high costs and unsolvable challenges. By taking the approach of aligning development to your business and customer needs, you can achieve a solution that works for everyone.