The start of a software project always sets the course for the future. Together we will formulate a clearly measurable goal that you would like to achieve with your new software. For you, this step also means a review of the potential of your investment.

Based on the shared vision, the next step is to create a list of the desired functions. This should be as extensive as possible, this immediately sharpens the common understanding of the long-term goals. At this point it is clear that not all wishes can be realized in the existing project budget. Here it makes sense to focus on the functionalities that achieve the greatest benefit.

Before the development team starts programming, the common project rules should be defined by all those involved. From a developer's point of view, there is nothing more inefficient than constant work interruptions and changing work tasks. However, the past has shown that rigid project plans do not lead to success. Requirements and prioritization can change in the course of the project and must then be adapted to the new circumstances. In this context, I have had good experiences with the agile methods Scrum and Kanban. Which of the two methods is used depends on the framework conditions of your project and its environment.

Before the first line of source code can be written, the development environment has to be set up by the development team. Roughly speaking, this includes the source code management, the project management tool (mostly JIRA), the ContinousIntegration / ContinousDelivery server (mostly Jenkins) and the selection of the programming language (s) used.