Software Development Methodologies

Find the perfect methodology for your product team.

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Software Development Methodologies 101

You know what you want to achieve with your software product. The problem is figuring out how you’ll get there. The right software development methodology helps you develop, deploy and manage products in a way that aligns with your strategy, goals and the way your team works. But the wrong methodology sets you back and costs you a lot of precious resources that you can’t afford to lose. That’s what this guide is here for; to give you the information you need to decide which software development methodology is the best one for you and your team.

Chapter 1

8 popular software development methodologies—with pros and cons

Chapter 2

Lean development tips: principles, best practices and common pitfalls

Chapter 3

Kanban, Scrum, Scrumban—the differences, challenges and solutions
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What are software development methodologies?

Software development methodologies help product teams define the guiding principles and processes for building products. They define how every element will be delivered—including the practices and philosophies that product teams, particularly the development team, need to follow to get the results they need.

Some software development methodologies get into the technical weeds of how to build a software product while others focus on team management practices. These methodologies define processes, artifacts, roles and day-to-day practices that, when applied correctly, transform teams into lean (no pun intended), mean product machines. Other methodologies are just general philosophies or a list of principles that can be applied using different tactics.

Software development methodologies are meant to provide a smoothly paved road for both developing a software product and guiding product teams to success. These methodologies are usually nontechnical, with a few exceptions: they’re mostly concerned with processes, people and internal operations rather than the weeds of software development, design and business.

There’s lean, agile, scrum, kanban, waterfall and everything in between. But which methodology best fits what you’re trying to achieve? This guide is here to help you with that.

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