Our Approach to Software Development
In the latest of our series setting out how we work with our clients, Development Capability Lead Rob Newsome outlines our approach to software development and the principles that underlie it.
Rob Newsome
Agile Software Engineering
Deliver early and incremental value from new digital products and services, and make rapid improvements to your existing applications.
A sequential waterfall approach is necessary to design and build things like bridges. However, it’s less effective for designing, building and running digital products and services where business priorities, user needs, and technology change quickly.
Agile is no longer the new kid on the block. Over more than two decades, organisations of all sizes and cultures have shaped repeatable methods of applying agile principles with right-size governance to deliver projects successfully.
Client stories
Find out how we have helped clients to tackle technology challenges and achieve business goals by taking an agile approach to their project.
Nord Pool
When Nord Pool wanted to transform how its energy clients could trade online, it called on Scott Logic to help. Taking an agile approach, our team managed the end-to-end delivery of a range of products, from day-ahead and intraday trading to extranet, a mobile app and the Urgent Market Messages (UMM) application.
HM Land Registry
As part of its ambitious digital transformation programme, HM Land Registry engaged Scott Logic to help improve its agile delivery capacity and practices, including staff capabilities, project reporting, and release train planning.
Principles of our successful approach
Work as one team
We promote a one-team approach, working with you and your stakeholders as a single, cohesive unit with shared goals, responsibilities, risks and deadlines.
Strive to be agile
We strive to be agile in how we manage your project and stay flexible to change. But we don’t force Agile methodologies on your organisation if they’re not right for you.
Fail fast, learn quickly
Our commitment to shared responsibilities isn’t just for when things are going smoothly. We believe in ‘fail fast, learn quickly’, a principle grounded in being completely transparent with our clients and reporting on an ongoing basis.
Release regularly
We create an incremental strategy for delivery, underpinned by engineering practices and processes that automate the software release pipeline, enabling regular releases of working software and delivering frequent value to your organisation.
Improve continuously
Our processes are constantly evolving and there is no final stage of improvement. Regular experimentation is vital to adapt to new technologies, challenges and stakeholder expectations.
From our blog
Want to deliver value? Focus on flow
On the route to delivering and realising value, the aim is to reduce the number of twists and turns in the software development pipework and improve flow. In this blog post, I’ll share some insights into practices and processes that reduce flow and what you can do to improve flow. It’s important to point out this is purposefully methodology-agnostic; I want to get beyond the rituals and practices of the different approaches and focus instead on the underlying best practices.
Nick Hume
What is a Data Lakehouse?
In this post, Matt Richards explores what a Data Lakehouse is, how it works, and whether it delivers on its promises—covering core features, formats, real-world patterns, and platform realities.
Matt Richards
Want to explore how we could work together?
Find out how we can help you manage the development and delivery of digital products in a way that minimises risk and maximises business value.