It is always difficult to set a development budget. However, it is the most important part of your development cycle. It is important to make sure that your numbers are accurate. This will ensure that you won’t need more money for development. In this article, we are going to help you in planning the perfect development budget.
Almost every software project has the same beginning. Your business team is going to ask about the cost of your project. After that, they will ask you how much time you need. Also, how many members are going to be on your team? These are some common questions.
There can be hundreds of these basic questions. But, all these questions arise from your stakeholder concerns. Your stakeholders want to know about your software budget. They don’t have technical knowledge. Thus, they don’t care about the processes that you are going to use. However, they want to know how much resources you need. They have the right vision. But, you need to tell them about the details of your project.
Business leaders never like unanswered questions. It can lead to holes in your development plans. Thus, it won’t help them in growing their business. They have to avoid risks like project failure and missed deadlines.
If you are a CEO or business leader, then you would like to know everything about the software budget. You need an accurate number. Also, a clear timeframe is important. It will help you in understanding if this project will help your company.
Business Leaders Problem with Wrong Estimates
We all know about software project failures. It is increasing with time. Sometimes it can fail due to over-budget. Also, some projects fail due to deadlines. Software project failure is common since 1980. More than half of the software projects fail due to over-budget or cost overruns.
Thus, stakeholders are worried about over-budget. They want to know about the cost of your project first. Stakeholders won’t approve of your project until you have a good budget. Also, they don’t want estimates. Most of the estimates are wrong. Thus, stakeholders only want actual numbers.
Development Teams Problem with Estimates
Development teams also don’t like estimates. They need to provide firm numbers to stakeholders. Also, it is the duty of development teams to provide these estimates.
Estimates are mostly just random guesses. Thus, most developers don’t like it. They need to guess about their project costs. This number will become an accurate number for stakeholders. In simple words, this guess is the maximum you can get. If you are spending more than that estimate, then you are over-budget. Also, you can’t increase the time frame. Thus, most development teams don’t like estimates. You need a good strategy for planning your software development project.
Developers can mostly see problems with their projects. Sometimes it can be unclear goals or not enough user research. Some companies leave UX for the end. This can increase the deadline of the project. These mistakes can play a major role in your project failure.
You need someone with experience in estimating your budget. They should have knowledge about both business and technical aspects. If you are a decision-maker, then you need the right strategy. You can follow below strategies for taking the right approach:
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Define the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Most new software developers overestimate the things that they are going to need. You might think that you need some resources. However, after some time you will realize that you actually need other resources. This can increase the complexity of your development project.
You should use an agile point of view for understanding your software development project. An MVP is a product that is ready for the market. It will cover all the basic things that your stakeholders need.
This will help you in simplifying your development process. Thus, you can easily create an accurate budget. First, you should work on your MVP. After that, your team can work on making it a full-service application. You need to do multiple iterations for turning your MVP into a full-service application. Each iteration will have its own budget. Thus, you can break your development budget in small parts. It is difficult to prepare for a full-scale application. However, you can easily prepare for a module.
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Define your iterations
First, you need to develop your MVP. After that, you should take feedback from users. You can use this feedback for improving your applications. This will help you in minimizing the risk. Also, your stakeholders can provide you with their feedback in processes. Your project leader can also easily find the money for iterations.
However, your team should know about the resources that they need. You should create a weekly or monthly schedule according to your project needs. But, make sure that this schedule is flexible.
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Use Pivot Strategy
Software development is not an easy process. Sometimes you may need to tweak your timeline. You might even need to change your whole project budget. However, it is easy to make these changes if you are following the iteration strategy. This will help you in avoiding cost overruns. Also, you can easily stretch your project timeline. This will protect your project from becoming obsolete or irrelevant.
Conclusion
It is always difficult to plan a budget for your project. However, your stakeholders are going to ask about your project budget first. They want to make sure that they are investing in a good project. Thus, it is important to plan a perfect budget for your project. You can use the above strategies for creating a perfect budget. These tips will help you in creating a more accurate budget. Hence, your stakeholders can take better business decisions. This will also help you in improving the relationship between the business leaders and the development team. If you need more tips regarding the software development process, then you can contact Bleuwire.
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