Development Process

Development Process at a Glance

• Based on the industry standard MSF and XP frameworks
• Specifically modified for offshore model
• Clearly defined development team roles and responsibilities
• Adhered to generic project management practices
• Supervised by PMI certified project managers

Process Overview

Creating meaningful business solutions on time and within budget requires a proven approach. For successfully delivering projects faster, requiring fewer people, and involving less risk, while enabling higher quality results Softwarium defined proprietary process. The recommendations and practices of the process are based on and verified by our experience of work on the international market. The process is not static. It evolves with the company to even increase efficiency and level of service we offer according to customers feedback and internal audit.

The process is based on the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF). MSF defines eight foundational principles: foster open communications, work toward a shared vision, empower team members, establish clear accountability and shared responsibility, focus on delivering business value, stay agile, expect change, invest in quality, learn from all experiences. Softwarium adopted these principles and even improved flexibility of the process by introducing eXtreme Programming (XP) principles: produce small releases, stay with simple design, perform testing, continuous refactoring and integration, strictly adhere to coding standards. Combined these principles enable Softwarium to perform well in wide range of projects varying in size, complexity, and type.

Every project goes through a lifecycle, a process that includes all of the activities in the project that take place up to completion and transition to an operational status. The main function of a lifecycle model is to establish the order in which project activities are performed. The process model combines concepts from the traditional waterfall and spiral models to capitalize on the strengths of each. The process model is based on phases and milestones:

The process model allows Softwarium to respond to customer requests and to address changes in a solution midcourse, when necessary. It also allows to deliver key portions of the solution faster than would otherwise be possible by focusing on the highest priority features first and moving less critical ones to subsequent releases. It has been used successfully to improve project control, minimize risk, improve product quality, and increase development speed.

The process defines structure of the development team. The team model defines the roles and responsibilities of a team of peers working on projects in interdependent multidisciplinary roles:

The team structure best fits the offshore development model where customer may not always be present on site. To overcome this the process defines the Product Management role with the single goal: satisfied customers. The Product Manager is responsible for communication with the customer and he is the customer's representative for the team and team's advocate for the customer.

For more information on the MSF, please see the white paper located at www.microsoft.com/msf .

For more information on the XP, please see the articles located at xprogramming.com.

For more information on the Project Management Institute (PMI), please visit the official web site: http://www.pmi.org