Our development methodologies are usually tailor made to suit the needs of the project and the engagement scenario. Typically the development model is derived based on many parameters. Few of them are as seen below.
- The level of available specification that could be provided
- The technology know how of the key stake project stake holders
- The time frame or the duration
- The availability of existing software systems or reference software systems
- Compliance to standards
- The complexity of the technology involved, proprietary code
- Amount of knowledge transfer involved – Domain specific, Technology specific, Process specific
- Amount of strategic synergy between the organizations
- Adherence to a already proven onsite development practice
Agile Development Methodology
The most popular buzzword that indicates sometimes a wrong sense of cost reduction!!. This model is best suited if there is a close association (daily working relationships) between the key stakeholder of the project and an experienced team with a proven architecture that could be quickly adopted. At chimera many of our development are Incremental and Iterative. Our scrum and Feature Driven Development models form the basis of the Agile. Much of our product engineering happens in this methodology.
Collaborative managed offshore development
This model is best suited for a team that is a mix of onsite and an offshore resources. Our team works in association with the onsite manager. The offshore team reports to the onsite via a offshore project manager who ensures the team performance and process adherance. This model is best suited for a Time and Material assignment with fluid requirements and changing priorities. Best suited for software enhancements and sustenance needs. This should also be selected when competencies are geographically distributed.
V- Process Model
Best suited for enhancements on a large and complex existing software system. This could also be applied with geographically dispersed testing team and the coding team. The model aims to build test plans and test cases in parallel to project plans and coding culimating in the entire team doing the implementation.
Task Driven Engagement Model
Preferred mostly for sustenance or an enhancement assignment, the model prescribes an onsite manager delegating a set of tasks to an offshore team. Typically this starts with a Knowledge transfer of an existing software component (either on location or via Desktop screen share sessions) followed by the team taking over for enhancements. This is also the model to which we transition at the end of a product development cycle or between releases.
Prototyping
When usability is the key, prototyping is the way out. Also when the key project stakeholder is a visual person and would like to see to approve functionalities, prototyping is the way out. Prototyping could also be employed in iteratively developing the software.
