How to create a software product?

How to create a software product? You need to select the performers. There are four options for this task.

Hire programmers on staff

01 Team You need to be able to hire the “right” programmers. In fact, 80% of the work is done by 20% of the staff. If you don’t find those who do and can set tasks for the rest, the budget will be wasted.
The motivation of programmers is also quite a serious task. This category of employees is very specific, and the ability to motivate is a special talent.
03 Disk in a box and case It is necessary to protect your product from theft. So that it does not happen that for your money will develop and transfer information to competitors or open a rival firm themselves.

If the project is small, and its development will take up to six months, it makes no sense to hire programmers. The employer has to give the employee certain social guarantees, pay taxes, pay for sick leave, vacations, etc. This is irrational.

Find freelancers.

In this case, first of all, you are deprived of all the burden of the employer. Secondly, this is the cheapest way: freelance programmers cost less, because they usually have no experience working on serious projects. But they can easily complete a typical template project. Freelancers who work well usually have several customers and several projects at the same time. Therefore, 95% of those who complete the task are likely to blow the deadline. There are often unscrupulous freelancers. Some like to supplement their portfolio with other people’s work. Others take an advance payment and disappear. On the exchanges a lot of newcomers who are little of themselves, but know how to advertise. And even if you manage to find decent professionals, they are unlikely to work on your project 20 hours a week. The probability that the project will be delivered on time – about 5%.

You can save on software development in two cases.

If the project is small (for example, on man-week labor, then it will be completed in about three to four weeks).
If the implementation of the task is not critical.

If the project will require five man-years, calculate what a mistake in selecting the performer can cost. Suppose you hire five programmers, and only a year later, when the result is supposed to be delivered, it will be found out that the task was assigned to unskilled people.
For large projects, freelancers with no experience in multi-year projects are not suitable. Their prerogative is small one-time tasks.

Freelance team

Essentially the same as hiring multiple freelancers. If there is no legal entity, no management, and no backbone in the team, at the first force majeure the team falls apart. Co-working teams tend to be just as unstable, unmanageable, and unpredictable in their behavior as solo performers.
In order to keep the organization from serious failures, you need a highly paid, experienced manager who can solve the problems that arise without harming the customer. Often “free artists” neglect the managerial component. And in a team of solid performers, there is no one to analyze tasks, change people, find new ones, motivate them, and bring development to completion when the slightest difficulty arises.

Professional organizations

There are many software companies and they have different degrees of reliability. When considering them, you should pay attention to the following aspects.
01 How the project management function is implemented.
02 The substitutability of employees.
03 The company’s reputation, customer feedback.
04 Developed products similar to yours.
05 Ready-made developments in the form of knowledge or, possibly, source code.
06 Availability of experience in implementing similar projects.
07 Organizational points: availability of ready legal documentation, professional contract, speed of interaction, etc.

When negotiating with a company, it is not necessary to evaluate the qualifications of individual employees. First, programmers exchange knowledge in the course of their work. Secondly, it is possible to form a team with people of a certain focus: one, for example, to develop video surveillance, another – to create a payment system.
A specialized company is the most expensive, but the most reliable solution. The price is determined by the presence of additional overheads and a permanent team of professionals. The company’s profitability and longevity are a testament to sound management and the repeated fulfillment of commitments made in terms of cost and timing.
This option is for those who need serious software products, who create high-loaded unique projects and complex services from scratch. In order not to make a mistake, choose either a specialized organization, or a multidisciplinary one, but necessarily one that has experience in creating similar products.