Our Custom Software Development Process
Custom software shouldn’t be a leap of faith. Our six-step process keeps you in control of scope, budget and priorities, and puts working software in your hands within weeks.
Six steps from idea to impact
1. Discovery: we dig into your core challenges, your goals and the systems you already use, then build a strategic plan that prioritizes the features with the highest return. You control the budget from day one. 2. Design: good design is about how software works, not just how it looks. We design intuitive interfaces around how your team actually works, and validate them before any code is written. 3. Build: we build in short iterations, starting with the features that matter most, with automated testing and deployments set up from the start. You see working software early and often.
Nearly 40% of projects fail due to a lack of proper software discovery and requirements gathering.
From testing to launch and beyond
4. User Acceptance Testing: your team tests every change hands-on in a staging environment before it goes live, so nothing ships that would break your workflow. 5. Launch: we plan the release around your business, including data migration and training, so go-live is a confident step, not a gamble. 6. Continuous Improvement: after launch we monitor performance, keep your technology current and build new features from your roadmap, so your software keeps up as you grow. Select any step above to see how it works in detail.
What working with Steelhead looks like:
One point of contact for the life of the relationship
Direct access to the people building your software
Working software within weeks of kickoff
You own the code and the intellectual property
US-based developers, close to home
Your team tests every change before it goes live
How long does the process take?
Every project is different. Discovery sets a clear plan before any code is written, including:
Project timeline
Itemized budget
Project features
Recommended project priorities
Because we deliver in iterations, you start getting value long before the full project is finished. Every project begins with a conversation: tell us what’s slowing your business down, and we’ll show you what the path forward looks like.
Explore Our Full Process
Contact us
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