In 1991 James Martin invented the Rapid Application Development, which was a response to the Waterfall methodology used in developing software that was filled with inadequacies.
Though it was invested in the 90s in recent years the use of Rapid Application Development (RAD) is being used more by the custom software development services because of several reasons. In this article, we will look into why RAD is being used by many companies that offer custom software as a service to other companies. But before we delve into that let’s begin by explaining what RAD is and what are its principles
What is Rapid Application Development?
Rapid Application Development or RAD is a model for developing software application that is part of the Agile software development model that is based on prioritizing rapid prototyping. Instead of having a long drawn out development process for the software and a lengthy testing cycle, RAD look emphasizes on quick feedback and based on those developers are in the position to make several iterations and updates to the software.
Many offshore IT service offer the Rapid Application Development system so that they can tweak and update software without restarting the development schedule and starting the software from scratch.
With RAD outsource customer service companies that offer custom software development services can save money and bring in efficiency by reducing time into the software development projects that they do. Organizations offering custom software as a service started using the RAD method after they realized that the traditional waterfall model was flawed and ineffective.
The major flaw in the waterfall method was that the core functions and features of the software were impossible to change as it went in the testing phase. This means that the software developers might eventually or may not work with the evolving requirement.
Principles of Rapid Application Development
With RAD method the offshore IT services developers were able to continuously evolve their software as per the requirement at any time. Over the years Rapid Application Development went through many changes but four basic principles remain the same:
- Define the requirements
- Prototype
- Receive Feedback
- Repeat the first three steps until the project is perfect
- Keep testing
- Finalize Software
Why Rapid Application Development is Changing the Software Development Process?
Many outsource customer service companies offer customized custom software as a services and the method they use for software development is Rapid Application Development. The reasons are quite a few and because of the advantages that RAD offers it is gradually changing the way the software development process works.
- It is flexible and adaptable to changes
- A big project can be divided into smaller sections or segments
- It reduces the overall project risk
- Software developers can maintain the time for turnover with Rapid Application Development method.
- Transferring deliverables as scripts are easier
- Codes of high-level abstraction and intermediate ones can be used
- Manual coding can be reduced with the use of code generators and reusing of the codes
- The chances of defects for the final software is less since prototyping is used
- To the clients, the developers can give highest priority and functionality of the software with the help of the RAD method
- Despite having fewer people working on software productivity can be increased within a short time.
- Rapid Application Development method for software is both time and cost-effective.
But Rapid Application development methodology cannot be used always for developing software. It should be used when a developer or a custom software development services provider have the following criteria for developing software:
- Software needs to be developed within a very short time
- The requirements for the software are known and the specificities are available.
- All through the development to launching cycle the user is involved
- If there is a risk of technical skills or less manpower
- The necessity to build a system that requires to be modularized between a span of 2 and 3 months.
- The budget is enough for the designers and developers to have a modeling as well as automated tools to generate codes.
There are several factors that make Rapid Application Development method one of the most sought after one in developing software in the market among the developers.
Despite it having quite a few drawbacks like it cannot work for smaller projects or reduction in scalability because it allows individual testing of prototypes at every iteration it reduces the testing time of the entire software while allowing it to be updated. Such a feature is one of the biggest USP of Rapid Application Development and thus developers are eager to use it.
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