Oct

Software Development Management Overview

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Found this at Bitpipe, its very useful for companies that make their own applications in house.

Think you’re not in the software development business? Think again. Even companies that make the business decision to rely on off-the-shelf software wind up doing some of their own software development to customize things for their environment. And that doesn’t include the stray legacy application or two that needs to be integrated into modern environments. Then there are companies whose primary business is creating software solutions for clients. Development projects cover a lot of ground, from commercial software or internal applications, to client-server or Web-based applications, to new development projects or integrating legacy software. Whether your primary business is software, or you’re just trying to keep the business going, the successful development projects follow the same basic process: Analyze, Design, Develop, Test and Deploy.

Process Management

Good process management ensures the timely delivery of the end products.

Software Development Methodologies. In order to ensure data quality, development teams need to follow best practices. Whether making a decision about migrating to the newest technologies or upgrading the environment to comply with new ISO, CMM or CMMI regulations, development methodologies need to be continuously evaluated and iterated to ensure quality.
Software Configuration Management. Also known as configuration management (CM) or environment mapping, it’s a detailed report of the company’s hardware, software and network systems, their version numbers and installed patches. In a development environment, this also refers to documentation of code, as well as errors and requested changes.

Analysis

The successful development project is one that results in software that is what the customer wants. To that end, gathering requirements is critical. A common understanding and sign-off of a project’s objectives helps ensure success.

Software Selection. Once requirements have been determined, the next step is to select the appropriate software. This is the classic buy-versus-build analysis. In some cases, it may be the right solution is to build a new piece of software. In many, though, it may be faster and more affordable to purchase an off-the-shelf solution. In other cases, requirements are so critical to the business, that acquiring technology by buying the company who makes it is the right step. Defining requirements and getting buy-in from all parties involved is crucial to making this decision.
Software Licensing. A key component of the analysis phase is the buy vs. build step. Smart business analysis adds a third option, which is licensing key components. An effective, disciplined licensing program can greatly extend an IT budget.