Supportsoft Glossary

Iterative Development for Continuous Product Improvement

On a high level, iterative development is essentially a way of steadily constructing your software product through manageable steps (or iterations) that allow you to test, refine, and improve upon each iteration as you build towards completion instead of trying to complete the entire project in one final step.

The iterative development process is composed of (1) planning, (2) design, (3) coding, (4) testing, and (5) review. The goal of the iterative development process is to continue refining the product by incorporating feedback and lessons learned from all of the previous iterations to build a more accurate and less risky product in the end.

The iterative development process has many advantages and allows your team to be able to respond to changing requirements without having a significant impact on the overall project as a result. The iterative development process provides your team with frequent checkpoints for testing and validating a solution on an ongoing basis, which allows your team to identify any problems early on in the project. 

The iterative development process provides your team with a structure for experimentation, promotes customer feedback, and provides your organisation with the ability to make continuous meaningful improvements. For projects where the complexity or requirements are changing regularly, the iterative development process provides your team with flexibility and better risk mitigation and allows your team to provide a final product that meets the needs of your customers more effectively.