Many software projects fail because of a combination of the following root causes:

• Ad-hoc requirements gathering and management
• Ambiguous specifications
• Insufficient or inaccurate communication
• Brittle architectures
• Complexity through over-engineering
• Insufficient or uncoordinated testing
• Insufficient process automation
• Subjective assessment of progress and project status
• Failure to identify and mitigate risk
• Failure to identify and manage the project critical path
• Uncontrolled change management

As commercial software systems expand in size, complexity, distribution, and importance, companies need to focus on new approaches to developing quality software quickly and efficiently while still satisfying business, technical and operational requirements.

Agile methodologies address the challenges in software development, help prevent the root causes of project delay and failure, and facilitate the creation of quality software in a repeatable and predictable fashion. Complemented with selected practices from more traditional software methodologies, an agile methodology can be strengthened further to package complex software systems for production environments.

Helping our customers find a better way to develop software

With our expertise in agile methods, rapid application development (RAD), and software development best practices, we work with our customer to devise and implement a suitable software methodology, and fine tune the key elements - methods, tools and procedures - to enable the manager to control the software development lifecycle and provide the practitioners with a foundation for creating quality software in a productive fashion with minimum overheads.

Methods define the technical 'how tos' and encompass a broad array of tasks that include planning and estimation, requirements analysis and specification, architecture, modeling and design, coding, testing, and maintenance. Our approach aims to unite the various disciplines that participate in a typical development lifecycle around a common software methodology with a single objective - delivering the right software at the right time.

Tools provide automated support for methods and help reduce process overhead, allowing team members to concentrate on their primary tasks. Typical candidates for automation include:

• Analysis, modeling and boilerplate code generation
• Version control
• Configuration management
• Defect logging and tracking
• Change management
• Unit testing and continuous integration
• Functional and non-functional testing
• Deployment

Procedures form the 'glue' that binds the methods and tools together. They define the sequence in which methods will be applied, the deliverables that are required, the controls that help ensure quality and coordinate change, and the milestones that enable software managers to assess progress based upon metrics.

To discuss our methodologies services further, please email or contact us.