Rapid Application Development


'You (Cirrus) continue to make a real difference and deliver great solutions'
Mike Langford, BT Retail

Software Development | Methodology

We are passionate about making your software development project outcome a success.

Development principles:
  • Project phasing, building on success in bite-sized chunks
  • Delivering the most important parts first
  • Delivering frequently to enable visibility from the start 
  • Clear specification writing to ensure the outcome and the spirit of the solution is preserved
  • Check and balance for user adoption
  • Close daily cooperation and collaboration between business people and developers
  • Visual and workflow prototyping , making it easy to design interfaces that everyone understands
  • Regular face to face communication and review
Browse our customer case studies for examples of successful delivered projects
 
Our philosophy on RAD development
We rely upon an inherent set of Rapid Application Development principles in order to ensure that your custom development project will be completed on time and on budget.

• Phased Deliveries: By breaking down the overall development plan into bite-sized chunks, we can focus on the most important functionality first and then work our way through the entire project. By prototyping the project in smaller segments, we can focus on optimizing each module independently. Using this method allows for easier project development and schedule tracking.

• Make constant software deliveries: We have found that the best way to ensure that a project is on track is to create and deliver individual segments of software code and functionality. This allows the client to maintain a better idea of the software functionality and project progress. The client is not left in the dark to wonder how the development process is going or what the software will look like.

• Create excellent specifications: One of the best practices in any software development is to create well thought through and detailed specifications for the development team. As a result of our iterative prototyping process, we are able to create accurate and detailed software specifications, this results in more stable software and fewer instances of scope and schedule creep.

• Constant user interaction: We maintain an extremely high level of interaction and work in collaboration with our software development customers. By delivering small chunks of functionality and business processes on a continual basis, we are able to quickly and effectively incorporate our clients’ suggestions and design considerations. This results in a much greater End-user and Stakeholder adoption when the software is implemented in the business.

• Daily collaboration with customers’ business experts: Good software doesn’t just result from End-users input on the GUI. Instead, it also results from the constant input from business experts and subject matter experts. Consequently, we maintain close daily cooperation and collaboration between business people and developers.

• Creating visual and workflow prototypes: By creating visual and workflow prototypes using screen shots, videos, and story boards, we are able to easily communicate the functionality and user interface of the software. We eagerly welcome feedback from clients on the visual prototype to ensure that the final software product meets and exceeds client expectations. If the project course needs adjusting then we are in a better position to do this, than make costly re-work adjustments later on.

• Regular face to face communication and review: By keeping our clients involved in the entire RAD process, we are able to stick to a schedule, create great software, and please end-users.
Our RAD process results in improved productivity, enabled collaboration, and a simplified process of custom software development.