Best Software Development Methodologies for Start-ups and Small Businesses

If there is something I’ve learned after all these years, it’s that a SaaS company has to choose the best software development methodology that fits its company culture and values. In other words, it’s like Cinderella’s crystal shoe.

I know it sounds like bananas. “What does company culture and values have to do with choosing a software development methodology?”

The answer, I dare to say, is everything: if your company selects a methodology that doesn’t fit your culture, your development team and your executive team will headbutt each other like beetles.

If your company values contracts over your stakeholders’ feedback, probably none of the most recent best software development methodologies will help you. The thing you want is a Waterfall, so outdated. I didn’t dare to bring it along.

For those of you who are not dinosaurs or fossils, welcome. We will discuss some of the best software development methodologies for your modern company.

You don’t have to be tech-savvy to choose the best software development methodology. We will discuss it in razor language as much as possible.

But you have to know about your company culture. If you are still not sure about culture, check our article about it. You won’t regret it!

Popular Software Development Methodologies in 2025

I avoided talking about more traditional methodologies and preferred Agile ones. Call me biased, but the truth is that Waterfall is not a thing anymore, except for a company that loves micromanaging and processes.

V-Model is very nice and it’s good for smaller projects, but it has no scalability and is not necessarily for small companies. Spiral Model is also okay, but the risk is never leaving the prototype phases – your budget won’t last forever. The Iterative Model needs many resources and is not suitable for small projects, there is a risk of never ending the project… in other words, Agile software development methodologies are simpler, so I will stick with them (except for Lean).

Of course, Agile is not perfect, but it will make everything easier.

Here is the kicker: Most people confuse the Agile philosophy with Agile Software development methods. I avoided that mistake, but just to be clear: if a person talks about an Agile method, they are likely talking about Scrum. There is no Agile methodology; Agile is an ethos.

1. Scrum

It works in weekly cycles, called Sprints. No Sprints, no Scrum. Differently from Spiral and Iterative, these Sprint cycles are not new prototypes or versions of the same program, but small, incremental parts of the project. Instead of planning an entire version and waiting for the next one to make a change, you will probably get the change next week, or at least, as soon as possible.

Your team will communicate efficiently with each other and with stakeholders, leading to more customer satisfaction and better quality.

Scrum Pros:

• If the project is small, you will get a viable product every 2-4 weeks.
• It works even with incomplete requirements.
• Flexible and adaptable to changes and feedback
• Frequent meetings with team members, tons of synergy

Scrum Cons:

• Demands real dedication from the team
• Demands dedication from the stakeholders, and not everyone is okay with that
• Demands discipline from the Scrum Team

When to use Scrum

Scrum should be used with a flexible client involved with the project and a team eager to work, highly motivated, and disciplined to finish tasks and deliver results. If you don’t have one, don’t think you can motivate them like if you were Darth Vader. It won’t work.

2. DevOps

DevOps is a software development methodology where developers and operators share the same responsibility. Let me give a clear example.

Let’s say you are developing a website. Before DevOps, you would have two teams, Developers and Operators. As soon as the developers released the website, they would move on to the next project, and the responsibility would fall on the Operators.

The Operators would manage the site for the users. Users are not fools. They find bugs, demand new features, and send feedback. When the Operators told the Developers about that, the Devs would just “Chill, bro, I am onto a new project now, I don’t have time”.

We plan the project with both Devs and Ops in mind! DevOps came to make the Devs stay on board with the project alongside the Ops from the start. When the software is released, the Devs stay and implement the new features and fix bugs.

If you have watched the Loki Series, you may remember TVA. They were the bad guys who erased every deviant timeline to protect the sacred timeline.

DevOps is quite the opposite. They continuously create more codes to integrate them into the branch (or the sacred code, if you will). They also have a better relationship with the IT department.

While Scrum focuses on development quality, DevOps focuses on process automations. They use software, AI, and Machine Learning to program many lines of code in seconds.

DevOps Pros:

• Continuous feedback between Ops and Devs
• Quicken Time-to-Market.
• Low failure rate of new releases
• Automation and optimization of processes.
• Structured product delivery
• Improvement of custom teams
• Early bug detection
• Early lack of feature detection
• Potential reduced costs
• Better customer satisfaction
• High product quality

DevOps Cons:

• Adopting DevOps is challenging
• Lack of focus and specific documentation
• Some customers don’t want continuous updates to their systems.
• Depending on the industry’s regulations, the project may require extensive testing before a project moves to Ops.
• If you are using a dedicated team (from an outsourcing company), issues may arise.

When to use DevOps

Use DevOps when selling SaaS with the best quality possible. Your project is complex, requires tests and QA, a big software development team and multiple departments. You have a big start-up or a big fund.

3. Lean

Lean maximizes the value delivered to clients by delivering the MVP. MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. Lean‘s focus is to generate the MVP by reducing waste. This is why it’s called Lean.

Here are the eight types of waste:

1. Transportation: Moving resources, like materials, without adding value to the product
   1. This waste is mainly for manufacturers, because they have to ship their physical products and the longer it sails, the longer the risk of damage.
   2. For software development, this is usually adapted for communication: the more you have to get all levels of leadership’s approval, the more you waste your time.
2. Inventory: Everything you won’t use to develop software and occupy space in the storage is a waste.
3. Motion: Unnecessary motion, like commuting. Please go remote.
   1. If a job is “tasks being done by an employee”, why do we have to waste the workers’ time by commuting?
4. Waiting: Unnecessary waiting, like bottlenecks.
   1. For instance, when you have a patch for software ready to be launched, but the leaders insist that such patches should only be released every quarter. That waiting doesn’t bring value to the company or to the users.
5. Overproduction: Producing more than is needed by the next process or customer
6. Overprocessing: The more time you need to perform a task, the more it wastes your time.
   1. For instance, in marketing, you can either have a big campaign that will take two months of production and money, or you can use digital ads, which are cheaper and can be produced in a few hours. The big campaign is a waste of time for Lean.
7. Defects: Producing defective products will make clients complain a lot, will lead to more bug fixes, so it should be avoided.
8. Human Creativity: If you don’t use your employees’ wit to solve problems or ignore their feedback, you are wasting their intellect.

Lean Pros

• Focus on delivering value and efficiency
• Reduce wastes, bottlenecks, and costs
• High quality product
• Good adaptation to changes
• Fast first value delivered
• Quick Time-on-Market

Lean Cons

• Requires a strong culture of continuous improvement
• Not suited for complex projects or high-risk projects
• If not done well, the pressure to minimize waste may strain the resources (human, materials, etc.) until the breaking point
• Needs detailed documentation done by a business analyst

When to use Lean

Lean is the best when you have a start-up and must release a product pretty fast, either a product to the stakeholders or a functional app to the market. It’s also useful when you have a small company but no product yet. You can produce MVP prototypes until you find the product of your dreams.

4. Extreme Programming (XP)

Extreme Programming is a software development methodology that focuses on achieving the best quality possible through coding. If we could summarize XP in a single word, it would be quality. It’s not a magical formula or a prescription, but a set of best development practices.

Kent Beck, the creator of XP, believes that to take everything good to its extreme (hence the name).

If code reviews are good, we’ll review code all the time (pair programming).

If testing is good, everybody will test all the time (unit testing), even the customers (functional testing).

If design is good, we’ll make it part of everybody’s daily business (refactoring).

If simplicity is good, we’ll always leave the system with the simplest design that supports its current functionality (the simplest thing that could possibly work).

If architecture is important, everybody will work defining and refining the architecture all the time (metaphor).

If integration testing is important, then we’ll integrate and test several times a day (continuous integration).

If short iterations are good, we’ll make the iterations really, really short – seconds and minutes and hours, not weeks and months and years (the planning game).

Here is a set of XP good practices:

1. Planning game. A meeting held by the development team and stakeholders with two planning sessions: release and iteration. It happens once a week.
2. Test-driven development (TDD). Programmers start by writing “acceptance tests” before writing code. They write a possible snippet of the code and then test it. If it passes, it is refactored into the code. 
3. Code review. Fellow programmers check each other’s code for mistakes.
4. Refactoring. Constant redesign of the code to make it easier to understand how it works.
5. Pair programming. Two developers work on the same functionality in turns. One writes the code and the other watches it. In that way, they can work as a team to avoid mistakes.
6. Continuous integration. New code pieces are constantly being merged into existing ones. Integration must happen asap to check possible glitches and bugs earlier.
7. Unit testing. Automated testing that determines if the developed feature works properly.
8. On-site Customer. Keep the customer always in touch.
9. Small Releases. Incremental value delivery.
10. Simple Design. There is no need for long-term planning if we have constant Refactoring; the plan must be simple and cover just the necessary tasks.
11. System Metaphor: Or what is called Architecture anywhere else, using a metaphor, analogy, or story (like, “our software is like a garden and our features are like the plants”). It gives the team a notion of how the software must work.
12. Collective Ownership: It’s not my code, or your code, it’s our code.

XP Pros:

• Clear code, as if it were done by a single person.
• Less documentation (just enough to make everyone know how to do it)
• Produces MVP quickly
• Strong adaptation to changes

XP Cons:

• Requires a high involvement from the customer and not everyone is up to it.
• Pair programming can take longer in the short run because it involves more communication, decision-making, and negotiation
• There is a lack of documentation in XP by design.

When to use XP

Extreme Programming is suited when your client is highly involved in the project. The customer wants high-quality software and may have crazy new ideas all the time. Your company’s team must be highly motivated and want to learn more. XP is more focused on software engineering than on project management; you may want to pair it with Scrum.

How do I know which software development methodology is the best for my company?

1. Assess project requirements: Determine whether the project requires change and adaptability (Agile) or if it’s more streamlined (Traditional). Almost all projects require changes during development, so it’s guaranteed to go Agile 99% of the time.
2. Size and complexity of the project: If your project is more complex, you want to use DevOps or XP. If it’s simple, you can use Lean to develop the MVP as quickly as possible. If you are not sure, go Scrum.
3. Analyze your budget: If you have a large budget, DevOps and XP work wonderfully; otherwise, Scrum or Lean.
4. Your stakeholders: If your stakeholders are very involved in the project, Scrum, DevOps, and XP. If they couldn’t care less, Lean. Although I would argue that, if your customer is not involved enough, you failed to show him the importance of the project.
5. Your Team: if you have Operatives to manage the project after development, DevOps.
6. High Quality Priority: If high quality is a priority, Lean or XP.
7. Can I craft a hybrid abomination?: Yes. The answer is yes. Most companies take what suits them the most from all the methods, so customize your method if you have the guts to learn more about every single one of them.

Conclusion

Now you know how to choose the right software development methodology for your project and company. Don’t forget to think about all the information, find new possibilities, test and experiment with all those methods and good practices, and measure your progress.

You know, companies experiment with new software development methodologies for many reasons. Some are dissatisfied because they dislike the results, others want to boost their sales, and others just want a better way to integrate the team and the company.

But maybe you feel like you still have no clue about how to choose the right software development methodology for your company. Or perhaps you wish to craft your personal, unique methodology to suit your business. Let me know about it. 

Sharon Koifman

Sharon Koifman is the Founder and President of DistantJob, a leading remote recruitment agency specializing in sourcing top remote developers for US businesses. With over a decade of experience, Sharon is a recognized authority in remote workforce management, and his innovative strategies have made DistantJob a trusted partner for companies worldwide. Sharon's commitment to excellence in remote work extends beyond recruitment; he is a prolific author and speaker, sharing his insights on building and managing effective distributed teams. His thought leadership helps organizations navigate the evolving landscape of remote work.