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ScienceSoft’s Delivery Models for Software Development Projects
With experience from 4,000 IT projects, ScienceSoft identifies the optimal delivery model for your software based on the budget, timelines, flexibility, and industry demands. We constantly refine our delivery approaches within our in-house PMO and offer the following primary models:
- Scrum and ScrumBut
- Kanban
- SAFe, LeSS, LeSS Huge, SoS, Spotify Model
- Waterfall
Six Bases of Our Software Delivery Approach
Thanks to our active PMO, ScienceSoft’s PMs and development teams have immediate access to a wide range of tried-and-true best practices, templates, and workflows for efficient SDLC execution.
Customized delivery process
We stay flexible with our delivery methods by balancing structure with adaptability. We don’t hesitate to remove or adjust processes and ceremonies that aren’t working for a particular project.
Hybrid delivery models
We readily transition between different delivery models throughout the SDLC to better address stage-specific requirements, ensuring these changes remain manageable for all stakeholders.
Certified expertise
Our team includes certified Scrum Masters, Scrum Product Owners, SAFe Masters, Kanban professionals, and more.
Ongoing improvement of skills
We offer continuous training programs for both our in-house team and our clients’ teams to stay updated with the latest practices and tools.
Monitoring and optimization
We closely monitor our software development processes using KPIs like velocity, quality, customer satisfaction, and time-to-market. If inefficiencies are uncovered, we quickly adjust or switch our delivery models as needed.
Our Primary Software Development Delivery Model: Agile
ScienceSoft has been rocking Agile since 2007.
98% of ScienceSoft’s projects follow Agile, with 80% using Scrum or ScrumBut.
We adopt Agile with discipline and only when it's the best fit for the project — never as a shortcut or just for the sake of the buzzword.
Agile for small and medium-sized projects
A typical Scrum cycle
Essence: Agile focuses on delivering small, incremental updates and continuous improvement. This strategy can lead to earlier ROI and enables continuous risk assessment and mitigation.
Best for:
- Complex and flexible software requirements that evolve throughout the project.
- Incremental (typically, every 2–4 weeks) delivery of small, usable software parts with continuous adaptation to user feedback.
- Small, cross-functional development teams (3–10 members).
Key Agile frameworks we use
Scrum
Scrum divides projects into small, manageable sprints, usually lasting 2–4 weeks. To avoid disruptions, it's advisable to maintain the current sprint's priorities until its completion. New priorities can be integrated during subsequent planning phases.
ScrumBut
ScrumBut is a tailored adaptation of Scrum, where teams intentionally modify or omit certain Scrum practices to better suit their project requirements.
Kanban
Kanban operates without defined iterations or a separate planning phase. When iterations are utilized, they are typically very short and often called "daily sprints." This allows for continuous adaptation, as changes can be introduced anytime. The team uses a Kanban Board to represent all project activities.
Projects that benefit from traditional Agile
Innovative technology
AI/ML applications, blockchain solutions, and IoT implementations.
Customer-facing apps
E-commerce platforms, self-service portals, mobile banking apps.
Complex enterprise solutions
Custom ERP systems, CRM platforms, and BI solutions.
Software products
SaaS products, software tools, and digital platforms like Uber, Spotify and Netflix.
Agile for large-scale projects
Essence: Agile delivery models for large-scale projects that maintain the agility of small teams while ensuring coordinated efforts and alignment with overarching project goals.
Best for:
- Large, complex projects involving multiple interconnected software components that need to be developed concurrently.
- Longer development cycles (usually 8–12 weeks) to synchronize multiple teams while maintaining iterative delivery.
- Multiple Agile teams (often remote and geographically distributed) involving hundreds of people.
Key frameworks we use for scaling Agile
SAFe
The Scaled Agile Framework organizes work into Team, Program, Large Solution, and Portfolio layers. Each layer has specific roles (like Release Train Engineer), ceremonies, and artifacts. It can scale to hundreds or thousands of people across multiple teams. SAFe is ideal for the predictable delivery of large enterprise-wide projects with complex regulatory requirements.
LeSS
Large Scale Scrum builds on standard Scrum with minimal additional roles and processes (like overall retrospective or overall backlog refinement) to support up to 8 teams (50–100 people) working on a software system. A single product owner manages the unified backlog, and Scrum Masters can oversee multiple teams.
LeSS Huge
LeSS Huge is an extension of LeSS for very large projects involving hundreds of developers. It breaks down the software solution into requirement areas, each managed by its own LeSS framework. It is best for highly expansive software systems with distinct feature sets or components.
SoS
Scrum of Scrums is a lightweight technique for coordinating 3–9 Scrum teams without introducing heavy processes and new roles. Each team sends a representative to meet and discuss progress, dependencies, and impediments. SoS is suitable when teams are relatively autonomous in their day-to-day activities but need periodic synchronization on timelines or integrations.
Spotify Model
The Spotify Model organizes teams (from 3 to hundreds) into autonomous Squads (similar to Scrum teams) within Tribes, incorporating Chapters and Guilds for cross-cutting concerns and knowledge sharing. It emphasizes company culture and informal communication, allowing for scalable team independence and innovation, ideal for digital product companies.
Projects that benefit from large-scale Agile
Enterprise-level digital transformation
Large-scale initiatives to modernize and streamline organizational processes and technologies.
Complex software products with multiple interdependencies
Autonomous vehicle software or advanced financial trading platforms.
Large-scale, high-risk solutions that require rigorous documentation and governance
Healthcare software solutions, banking and trading systems.
Integration across geographical locations
Global supply chain management systems, multinational e-commerce platforms.
Large-scale customer-centric platforms
Global ecommerce platforms, omnichannel customer service solutions.
For projects that last less than 6 months, the overhead of setting up scaling frameworks may outweigh the benefits. In such cases, simpler agile methodologies like Scrum or Kanban will be more appropriate, even when it comes to multiple teams.
See Agile Models Applied in ScienceSoft’s Projects
Our Secondary Software Delivery Model: Waterfall
Essence: Waterfall is a linear and sequential delivery approach where each phase — planning, development, testing, deployment — must be fully completed before moving to the next.
Best for:
- Software requirements that are defined upfront and stay fixed throughout the project lifecycle.
- Development process that lasts <12 months, with the software being released to users only after the project's completion.
- Teams that are always organized by function (e.g., separate teams for development and testing.
Projects that benefit from Waterfall
Simple and standard software
Basic websites, corporate landing pages, and single-purpose apps (e.g., to-do list).
Proof of concept (PoC)
Small-scale projects to test various aspects of a proposed innovative solution: architecture, integrations, tech stacks, core features, or user interfaces.
Software requiring regulatory compliance (e.g., HIPAA, FDA, SOX, PCI DSS)
Healthcare, financial, aerospace, and defense systems.
Software for the government and public sector
Public health monitoring systems, public service portals, and online tax filing systems.
See Waterfall Applied in ScienceSoft’s Projects
When We Use Hybrid Models or a Mix of Different Models
In ScienceSoft’s experience, it's often beneficial to blend different methodologies or transition from one to another as the project evolves. For instance, we frequently switch from Waterfall to Scrum, from Scrum to Waterfall, from Scrum to Kanban, and from Scrum to Kanban and back to Scrum.
To ensure a smooth transition and maintain project momentum, we arrange a pre-switch introduction meeting or a mini-training session for each shift. This session includes key participants from both our development team and the client's side. By proactively getting everyone on board with the necessary tools and processes, we can hit the ground running and keep our projects on track from day one.