11. Software development and business models

There are different software development models with its advantages and disadvantages, but all of them give project teams a framework and a structure for planning and executing the project.
Choosing the development model will depend on the project, on the amount of flexibility you expect, on the amount of unknown requirements at the start line, resource available, project size and complexity and the vision clarity.

One of the development model examples is the spiral model.
This model is the most flexible and as the name says, software is developed in cycles. Development undergoes same set of cycles again and again until final refinement is done and product is ready.
This model incorporates the following steps:
Identification (understanding the requirements and setting up the baseline)  → Design (architectural, logical and physical) → Building phase → Evaluation and Risk analysis → Collecting feedback and going to the next cycle.
This model is particularly good for customized product where risk evaluation is important. It is also great in cases where idea of product is not clear or where requirements are very complex. However there is a risk of taking a lot of time with endless development and improvement implementation. This model is certainly not suitable for low risk or small projects.

Going over to the business models, it seems that freemium is the very popular option these days.
A lot of services are based on the freemium model - Dropbox, Spotify, a lot of mobile apps, Linkedin and many others.
The idea is simple, the basic service is provided free of charge for everyone, however for a small fee a better service can be purchased. Dropbox provides larger storage space for premiums, while a few GBs can be used for free. Linkedin provides larger set of services if you pay monthly. Spotify removes the annoying advertising and allows you to pre-download music if you are premium.
Freemium is great for marketing purposes (easy to get for customers) and network effects (more people use the service, more valuable it becomes).


http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-the-freemium-business-model-2011-4
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/sdlc/sdlc_spiral_model.htm
https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/salaries-and-skills/6-basic-sdlc-methodologies-which-one-is-best

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