Choosing an IT partner can be challenging. On the one hand, you want great results. On the other hand, there’s a lot of pressure to get the best deal possible.

At Qubiz, we think that these two should go hand in hand. Over more than 15 years, we’ve worked with many clients across many industries. Their requirements varied, but each wanted a software development partner that resonated with them and understood their needs.

For these reasons, we recommend starting with a pilot project in software development before launching a bigger and more complex one.

Qubiz achieves, on average, 98% continued collaboration after the pilot phase.

What is a pilot project in software development? What are the benefits?

A pilot project is a small-scale project that clients use to test the software development partner’s capabilities. It’s typically the first step in our collaboration, in which we clarify goals, requirements, and surface valuable information for the main project.

Choosing to do a pilot project has many advantages, including:

Increased clarity

A pilot project reveals valuable information about the software development project’s cost, risks and feasibility. In the end, you’ll have a clear view of what you want to achieve and how to avoid potential pitfalls.

Brainstorming ideas

You’ll have a team of software experts to brainstorm ideas and develop innovative solutions. For example, UX specialists can detect issues and find more elegant and effective ways to prevent or solve them.

Risk management

Software development comes with specific risks. However, a pilot project doesn’t need significant time and money investment. In this way, you’ll have a reliable solution before investing in a lengthy software development process.

Technological partner match

Finding the right partner is key when you’re outsourcing software development. We encourage our clients to start with a pilot project to understand their working style, values, requirements and business needs. This ensures the project’s long-term success since you can evaluate our capabilities and organisational culture.

Building trust

In the end, it all boils down to trust. We demonstrate that we can deliver a quality product on time, which is the best way to determine whether or not we’re a good fit. Additionally, we learn how to work efficiently alongside your in-house developers. Besides, this is an investment for both of us, as we share the risk in case something doesn’t go as planned.

Pilot project in software development: the Qubiz way

Starting with a pilot project gives you clarity, helping you save time and money. Here are the typical steps when we start a new pilot project:

1. Defining clear goals and timeline

A pilot project allows you to set clear goals and even a larger vision for your larger project. You can also establish in-scope and out-of-scope requirements, which will help avoid scope creep. Additionally, agreeing on a timeline will allow the team to deliver value since it’ll be clear what they should prioritise.

Usually, we guide partners through this process by adopting a consultative approach. We also bring experts from different areas and technology backgrounds to help you make the best decisions.

2. Agreeing on the way of working

After defining the project’s goals, we usually recommend agreeing on how to work. In short, we don’t skip this step since this is where we define all the resources and tools needed to make the project a success.

This means picking a framework, methodology and communication tools. This way, team members will have a clear setup and won’t have to wait for approvals or tools to become available.

3. Selecting team members

We prefer to start with a small software development team of 3-4 core developers. This approach prioritises cost saving, and the team gets to understand your business and how you prefer to work.

Then, we add new members who learn the ropes from the core team. The team's flexible composition takes into account your needs and goals.

4. Delivering the pilot project

Most of the time, we work agile and deliver in increments. In this step, feedback loops are kept short, and everyone follows the initial plan.

This step is where we will find valuable information to address challenges head-on and find the best solutions for your business.

5. Working software demo

Our clients get frequent updates throughout the development process. The easiest way to do this is to have meetings in which we demonstrate the work-in-progress software.

This not only ensures total transparency, but you’ll also give feedback. In turn, we’ll make adjustments and find improvement ideas to include in future sprints.

6. Evaluation and next steps

After the pilot project, we discuss improvements and plans. This means we can move to a full-fledged project implementation with clear requirements, goals and expectations.

Moreover, we’re both more comfortable working together. In our experience, this leads to successful outsourcing, long-term partnerships and much better results.

Are software development pilot projects for every business?

Pilot projects are definitely for any business looking for a solution to minimise risks and test product quality.

We create custom software solutions that reduce cost, hassle, resources and time. That’s why we recommend testing our collaboration first, as we can choose the best infrastructure for your project. In other words, a pilot project builds trust and surfaces valuable information that we will use to build the best solution.

Our collaboration with Qubiz has been nothing short of incredible. We have been able to be handheld throughout the whole process to deliver two successful products to our clients. Additionally, Qubiz provided a pathway to determine the most cost-effective way to achieve our goal. - RHUSH MAUGI, Co-founder, Figura Analytics

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