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Freshcode's Delivery Workflow: What It Means for Your Business

Freshcode's Delivery Workflow: What It Means for Your Business

January 28, 2020
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5 min read
Freshcode
By
Artem Barmin
Co-Founder

Various studies underscore several factors contributing to the failure of software development projects, regardless of whether web development is outsourced to Ukraine or the Philippines. Common issues like missed deadlines, scope creep, and budget inflation often originate from inefficient business processes within outsourcing service providers.

To address these challenges and ensure secure outsourcing, Freshcode has established a 5-step delivery process following the discovery stage. Today, I'll walk you through each step and provide insights into what you can anticipate when selecting Freshсode for web development.

5 steps of the Freshcode delivery workflow

project delivery workflow

Project Start

It is a vital starting point for every project, typically taking one or two team meetings. During this phase, we carefully screen the Freshсode talent pool to assemble a team tailored to your technical and cultural requirements. These initial meetings allow our business analysts, designers, and software engineers to gain insights into your business goals, project scope, and mission.

Can we skip this stage? While it may be tempting, doing so could result in contractors lacking a comprehensive understanding of the project's needs, hindering their ability to propose efficient architectural solutions or implement features creatively.

Therefore, we firmly recommend fully engaging in the Project Start phase to ensure clarity, alignment, and a shared vision among all stakeholders, laying the foundation for a successful software development project.

Project Setup

project setup

The second stage of the delivery process is all about planning. During Project Setup, the Freshсode team researches and analyzes project data and develops dozens of documents to ensure transparent delivery, chief among them are:

1
Requirements management plan
Using R4J or Confluence, we document the current set of project requirements and estimate the influence of any changes you introduce on the project's budget and deadline. For instance, if you decide to add another feature, once the delivery is underway, the requirements management plan will let you know how much extra it will cost you and how many additional hours the team will need to implement it.
2
Project management plan
Based on your preferences, we decide on the project management methodology and software tools to be used. For instance, you can choose Trello-based Kanban methodology for your project or set up Scrum with 2-week-long sprints.
3
Deploy plan
We discuss and document your preferred deploy method: manual or continuous. You can also select the platform to store the project among GitHub, GitLab, and others.
4
Communication plan
To ensure all project stakeholders remain on the same page throughout the delivery process, we set up and document a communication routine for your web development in Ukraine. It includes information on your preferred modes of communication (phone calls, Skype, email), a meeting schedule, and a list of stakeholders to be kept in the loop.
5
Risk management plan
Using pre-mortem analysis and other risk assessment methods, we identify the critical factors that can cause project failure. Aside from risks, this plan includes preventative measures the team should take to avoid them.
6
Security management plan
Unlike many website design companies that forget about security until the quality assurance stage, the Freshсode team relies on GDPR-compliant Security by Design principles. Long before software engineers start coding, we plan for security risks and design measures to prevent breaches and sensitive information leaks.
7
Acceptance plan
To identify the project's successful completion, we set up acceptance parameters and develop test cases. Based on this plan, we deliver the finished product. If you want to include any changes that go beyond initial requirements, a change management plan takes over and affects the deadlines and budget.

Project Iterations

Following the Agile project management methodology, the FreshCode team divides the project into smaller tasks. Every web developer works on individual features, and the Tech Lead conducts code review. After that, each element is deployed in a separate environment, and QA specialists test them individually. Once all features are merged, quality assurance specialists conduct integrated testing before the final deploy.

At Freshсode, the QA department works closely with project managers and software engineers to create test cases for all project requirements. We automate tests for critical system features to ensure their stability and high performance. For instance, our QA managers usually automate the testing of the payment process to ensure your customers can transfer the funds, and the project can generate revenue.

After the features pass all tests, we run a demo for you to visualize and try out the new functionality. If you require any changes, we document the change request and calculate its impact on the budget and the deadline according to the change management plan. At the very end of each sprint, the team holds a retrospective to analyze the project's ups and downs.

Project Deploy

Based on the deploy plan and the chosen deployment environment, we move the project into production. At this stage, as before, the Freshсode QA experts continue testing to ensure the system meets initial requirements. We also conduct extensive penetration testing to prevent malicious attacks and unauthorized access to sensitive information according to the security management plan developed during the Project Setup stage.

At the Deploy stage, we develop a business continuity plan that ensures the project runs smoothly after launch. One example of a security measure we implement is a backup system that makes a copy of critical data at regular intervals. To ensure the backup system is operational, we suggest additional procedures to check them. For critical projects, we can implement system replication using a separate hardware system that runs in parallel and can take over in case the primary system fails.

Project Finalization

Whether you <medium>outsource web development to Ukraine<medium> or another country, you might run into a vendor lock. Some companies try to limit your further vendor choices by creating a code no one can maintain and update. In contrast, the Freshcode team develops high-quality self-documenting code. Moreover, we provide you with detailed technical documentation that will enable you to enlist the in-house team or another IT vendor to support, maintain, and upgrade the final product.

After the project is up and running, we would appreciate your honest review on Clutch.co to help us grow. We use your feedback during the final retrospective session to analyze our initial plans and determine their success. All members of the team try to work out why some things could have gone wrong and how to prevent similar misunderstandings in the future. The experience we've accumulated throughout the iterations and final retrospectives helps us update and improve the delivery process.

Takeaway

It is safe to select an IT partner for web development in Ukraine if the vendor you chose relies on a transparent and well-documented delivery process. We have implemented this approach dozens of times and helped many clients launch successful projects. Check out their cases in our portfolio.

Let's recap the delivery process we use at Freshcode. We go through five stages that encompass:

  1. Introducing you and your project to all team members to ensure they understand your business goals and vision.
  2. Documenting every minute detail of the delivery process, including requirements, change, security, communication, and acceptance plans.
  3. Building and testing individual features and the final product to ensure it meets your initial requirements.
  4. Deployment of the finished product in an environment of your choice and providing the business continuity plan that accounts for backups and system replication.
  5. Delivery of the technical documentation for your project and final retrospective to analyze the mistakes made throughout the delivery process.

Our website design approach is ever-evolving to make outsourcing even more secure, efficient, and comfortable for you. We are working on separating visual and technical elements to provide you with preliminary UI prototypes to help you visualize the final product from the earliest stages of development. Storybook is just one of the technologies we plan on implementing for future projects.

Freshcode team keeps up the most efficient solutions to power up our customers' projects. So don't hesitate to contact us if you have any profound ideas for launching your business!

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Author
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Artem Barmin
Co-Founder

12 years in software development. Co-founder of IT agency and EdTech company.

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