What Development Approach Should You Choose?

The success of a software project directly depends on its development methodology. That’s why it’s very important to choose wisely and follow the method that plays to the strengths of your team. But how do you decide on the right methodology?

With the growing demand for digital transformation, software developers are all wrapped up in work — the global software products market is expected to reach $2,157 billion in 2026.

As software development is a step by step process that involves many different aspects, all stages of development should be carefully planned. A team needs to follow the determined workflow to be able to present a fully-functioning solution on time. To achieve this you need to decide on a development methodology that best meets your requirements.

In this article we will discuss the most popular software development methodologies, learn about their peculiarities and find out what projects leverage them.

What is a software development methodology and why is it important?

Software development methodology is a set of structured processes and a discipline aimed to make software development clear and concise. In simple words, this is the way a team will function and communicate while working on a project.

There are a great variety of different development methodologies — yet there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Each methodology works best in specific circumstances.

Developers that neglect to adopt a software development methodology run a high risk of miscommunication, both with the client and within the team, and are prone to frequent mistakes. All this inevitably leads to broken deadlines and flawed products.

In its turn, adhering to a development approach makes the team more organized, with each member having a clear roadmap and pool of responsibilities.

“It’s harder than you might think to squander millions of dollars, but a flawed software development process is a tool well suited to the job.” ― Alan Cooper, aka the “Father of Visual Basic”, software designer and programmer.

Deep dive into top software development methodologies

There are many software development methodologies, each with its pros and cons. We will focus on the top 5 approaches: Agile, Waterfall, DevOps, Prototype, and Rapid Application Development.

Agile

Agile is the most popular software development methodology — 71% of companies use this approach. The main feature of Agile is that it prioritizes people — clients and the development team — over tools and processes.

Teams that follow Agile principles value software performance higher than correct documentation. It is a non-linear approach, making it possible to respond to errors as they occur and make changes straight off.

Agile teams break tasks into sprints lasting 1 to 4 weeks. At the end of each week they participate in a sprint review where they share their results and set goals for the next sprint.

This workflow helps effectively track progress and make amendments in good time. Developers also collect and process customer feedback to make sure everything works as it should and no missing parts spoil the client experience.

These features and rules result in a number of plus points for the Agile development methodology:

• minimum errors and bugs
• well-established and clear communication between the team members and clients
• easy to make changes due to Agile’s adaptability
• no place for shots in the dark as there is always direct communication with the client

However, nothing can be 100% perfect and the Agile approach has its downsides as well:

• underdeveloped documentation may become a problem in the future
• never-ceasing communication can become tiresome and distract the team
• as it is a non-structured approach, Agile can be efficiently leveraged only by experienced developers able to work independently

Therefore, Agile software development methodology is best suited for projects that are unique to the market, may face changing requirements, and are highly complex.

Agile frameworks

Agile software development methodology has several frameworks: Scrum, Kanban, Extreme programming, Feature driven software development, Behavior driven development, Crystal, and Dynamic Systems Delivery. Among this variety of frameworks, Scrum and Kanban are the most widely-used. What are their distinctive features?

Scrum software development is focused on delivering the result fast. Scrum sprints are usually short (〜2 weeks) and the team presents the client with parts of the product at the end of each sprint. Teams working with this framework have specific roles such as Scrum Master and Product Owner.

A Scrum Master is a Team Leader, who knows Scrum practices in detail and can effectively guide the team through all the development stages. The Product Owner, for their part, is accountable for the success of the product. They maintain communication both with the client and the team and need to clearly pass on all information so that each party understands the next steps.

Meanwhile, the Kanban framework aims to improve the project management processes by visualizing the workflow with a tool called a Kanban board. This board can be physical or virtual and consists of columns that depict a specific stage in the development process. The core columns are Backlog, In progress, Testing and Done. As the project progresses, the tasks move from column to column until they are completed.

The key difference between Kanban and other Agile methodologies lies in the fact that the number of In progress tasks is limited. This means that new tasks cannot begin until others have been completed. In addition, Kanban methodology is not as strict on fixed timelines as other Agile approaches and allows for a continuous workflow.

Some teams use a combination of these two frameworks called Scrumban. This hybrid approach leverages the productivity and flexibility of Scrum with the visualization of Kanban.

Waterfall

Waterfall is the most traditional methodology in software development. It follows a linear workflow with tasks being executed one after another. This methodology is quite rigid as no changes can be made once a particular part is finished.

The Waterfall approach heavily emphasizes the importance of solid documentation with all the aspects of development written out in detail. Based on pre-development research, teams working with the Waterfall development methodology can estimate the time required to complete each of the phases quite accurately and come up with a predicted release date.

A Waterfall team includes four roles: developer, tester, business analyst, and project manager. Customers or their representatives are not included. In Waterfall there is not much communication, and team members usually work independently and don’t provide status reports as often as with Agile.

All in all, the Waterfall development methodology can boast some tangible benefits:

• logical structure and fixed schedule
• detailed documentation
• no sudden amendments and additions
• the total cost is clearly estimated

Yet there are some disadvantages that spoil the picture:

• development time is usually long
• the approach is very inflexible, meaning that changes are not at all welcomed
• no client participation
• delays on one task cause delay to the entire project

In light of this, the Waterfall approach proves to be of great use on software projects that have a fixed scope of work, a strict budget, and well-defined requirements.

DevOps

The DevOps software development methodology is rapidly growing in popularity with its market projected to reach $57,90 billion by 2030 at a 24,2% CAGR. DevOps is a mix of the words “development” and “operation” — two processes that are interlinked in its approach.

DevOps teams consist of software and QA engineers who work together to achieve simultaneousness in development, quality assurance, and security operations. This eliminates communication gaps between development and IT operations departments during planning, testing, and delivery.

One of the key principles of the DevOps approach is automation. This helps to reduce human error and increase team productivity. Aspects where automation can be applied include security checks and anomaly recognition.

In addition, solutions developed with DevOps are continuously monitored to track software performance and collect user feedback and then make the necessary changes and improvements.

So, the major advantages of DevOps development are:

• fast software delivery
• flexibility
• active communication within the team and with customers
• transparency
• automation

Nevertheless, the DevOps development methodology may bring a few difficulties, such as:

• clashes between development and operation teams in terms of tools and working standards
• the fast pace of development can affect security measures

However, DevOps has a highly security-oriented fork development methodology called DevSecOps. With this approach safety measures are defined at the very beginning of the development process, rather than the end of the pipeline.

Usually, the DevOps development approach is chosen by teams working with projects that combine high complexity and tight deadlines.