The Ultimate Checklist for Custom Software Projects

So you need new software. How do you start the process that will help you frame up and deliver a great project?

Start here: this short quiz will help you determine if a custom software solution is right for your project. Then, work through the checklist below to set your custom solution up for success.

Determine your project’s goals and ideal outcomes.

A successful custom software project starts before any code is written. The clearest first step is agreeing on the business outcome: what should become easier, faster, or more reliable, who it serves, and what meaningful improvement would look like.

So before any coding starts, walk through the workflow with the people who use it every day, and hold a meeting with internal stakeholders to make sure everyone agrees on the goals, priorities, and constraints.

Figure out if you should hire an internal developer or outsource to a development firm.

When planning a custom software project, one of the first resource decisions is whether to build with an internal team, bring in an outside development partner, or use a combination of both.

Both approaches can be the right answer, and many strong projects combine the two. Rather than a generic pros-and-cons list, weigh the decision against your project and your team:

• Existing engineering capacity. Does your team have room to take this on while supporting the systems they already own?
• Specialized expertise. Does the project require expertise your internal team does not need or maintain day to day, such as architecture, UX/UI, integrations, data, AI, or QA?
• Speed to a full team. How quickly do you need the right mix of skills in place, and can you scale it up or down as the project moves through phases?
• Domain and workflow knowledge. Your team knows your business best. Whoever builds the software should invest in learning how your workflow actually operates.
• Security and governance. What access, review, and audit expectations does the project carry, and who is set up to meet them?
• Communication and collaboration. Who will your team actually talk to day to day, and how will decisions get made?
• Knowledge transfer and long-term ownership. Who owns the code and the accounts, and how will your team maintain and extend the software after launch?

If you bring in an outside firm, look for a real engineering partner: a team that learns how your business operates, works with the systems and people you already have in place, and contributes engineering judgment rather than simply building the specification it is handed.

Still weighing your options? Take our short custom software quiz to think through whether a custom solution fits your project and how you want a development team to work with you.

Have a clear understanding of your timeline and budget.

Setting a budget and timeline for software development projects is never easy or the same from project to project so we recommend going through this process every time you embark on a new custom software project.

It’s important to remain realistic when setting your budget and timeline, so a few factors to keep in mind include:

• Clear insight into what the project entails
• Any additional resources such as new technology solutions your team will need access to
• Staffing and external agency support your team will need to create the application or platform
• Specific external and internal factors that may impact the deadline of the project (for example, a new website launch date)

Be sure to connect with the champion of the project to better understand the goals of the project (as we noted above this is key to any software project) and determine who they will need buy-in from on the proposed budget and timeline you are recommending. It’s always best to be aligned across the board before presenting the proposed budget and timeline to the c-suite.

Think about how you will update and iterate your software application post-release.

Once your new software has officially launched and you’ve celebrated with your team, it's time to start thinking about the next steps for your software. Here are some key questions we recommend you start thinking through:

• Where (or who) do you go for additional guidance or information on the future roadmap of this project?
• How do you manage vendor relationships to ensure security updates and other patches are in place?
• What metrics are being used to measure the success of the software? And how do those metrics evolve and change over time?
• What worked and didn’t work from the first software release, and what steps will you take to improve the development process and launch moving forward?

Every custom software project is unique, and a little structure up front goes a long way. To organize what you already know, take our short custom software quiz; after your instant result, you can have our Custom Software Project Planning Checklist emailed to you. It helps you work through outcomes, workflow, systems, and priorities, then summarize what you know in a one-page Project Snapshot you can bring to any planning conversation. And when you’re ready to talk through your project, we’re glad to help.