What Is a Software Product?

What Is a Software Product?

Put simply, a software product is software that has been developed and maintained for the benefit of a user base and often to satisfy a need in the market. 

Most of us interact with different types of software products each day. Examples of a software product can include products that help its users hold online video conferences and meetings (think Zoom) or a platform that helps businesses manage employee expenses. 

Let’s take a closer look at the software product development process.

Software product definition - platform vs. product

For something to be considered a software product instead of a platform, the end-user should be primarily interacting with the software itself to solve a problem or derive value. A platform, on the other hand, often facilitates third-party interactions — like a food delivery service that allows users to place an order to a restaurant from a mobile application. 

There are two main types of software products. These software product types are “generic software products” and “customized software products.”

Generic software product - Generic software is a software product developed with a broad user base in mind. These products are “off the shelf” and may have more general features and functionalities. 

Customized software product - A customized software product is a software product developed for a specific client or user base. An example of this could be a software product developed for an internal team at an organization. 

What are the components of a software product?

The best software product starts with a great value proposition. Then, it must be designed carefully and tested thoroughly to ensure that value is being delivered to the end-user. The components of a software product include:

• Product design: Product design is the visual aesthetic and interactive interface in which users can engage with the product. 
• Functionality and features: Functionality is how users interact with the software product when they use it. 
• Content: Content refers to the data and information present in a software product.

How to create a software product - software product development process

The software development process can be broken down into four activity types: specification, development, validation, and evolution 

• Software specification - What will be the main features and functionalities of the software product? Here, a software requirements document is produced. This should help clarify aspects of the development process like timelines, project scope, budget, and more.
• Software design and implementation - Based on the requirements identified, the software is designed and developed.
• Software validation - During this part of the software product development process, the product is reviewed to ensure that the functionalities are in line with the outlined specifications.
• Software evolution - Evolving customer needs and market shifts may necessitate updates or modifications to the software, even after it has been shipped. 

Software product development models: Agile vs. Waterfall

When it comes to software development models, there are a number of approaches available to product teams. Whether Agile or Waterfall is better depends on the project type, its scope, and timelines. 

Waterfall software development

Waterfall is an upfront planning approach and is considered more traditional and documentation-intensive than Agile. It follows linear, sequential phases which cannot run concurrently. These phases are: requirements, design, implementation, testing, and maintenance. While customer input can be factored into the early phases of the Waterfall approach, implementing customer feedback becomes much harder during later phases as change is difficult to manage in Waterfall. 

Agile software development

Agile Scrum software development is iterative, allowing teams to incorporate feedback from users/customers and stakeholders. Because of its sprint-based nature, Agile Scrum can present an opportunity for software development teams to iterate quickly and respond to changing customer and market demands.