Rapid App Development: Full RAD Methodology Overview and Practical Advice

What is Rapid Application Development (RAD)?

What is Rapid Application Development at its core? RAD is a development approach that emphasizes speed and flexibility in software development. It’s designed for teams and businesses that want to prioritize quick prototyping and feedback over lengthy planning phases. By focusing on rapid iterations, RAD ensures that apps are developed efficiently while meeting changing project requirements.

How it works? RAD minimizes complexity through modularized designs and iterative workflows. Teams work closely with stakeholders to define requirements early, enabling them to create a working prototype quickly. This prototype is refined through feedback loops, ensuring that the final product delivers a better experience to end users.

With RAD, the focus is on reducing development costs and shortening the development cycle, all while maintaining high quality — rather practical for modern business processes that demand speed, adaptability, and collaboration.

How did RAD appear: A Brief History

We have to thank the non-ideal Waterfall process for the emergence of rapid application development model. Initially, the Waterfall development system was based on the traditional engineering model used to design and construct buildings and bridges.

While Waterfall used a rigid structure of sequential development activities as the basis, the emergence of RAD was an attempt to create a flexible process that could use the knowledge gained during the project management lifecycle.

The first version of RAD was created by Barry Boehm in 1986, who called it the spiral model. Each spiral turn is divided into four sectors and corresponds to developing a fragment or version of the software. This iterative process allows for rapid prototyping and continuous improvement. With each new turn, there is a deepening and refinement of the goals and specifications of the project. As a result, it is possible to choose an affordable variant.

Using Barry’s ideas, the Briton James Martin developed his RAD system during his work in the 80s at IBM and finally formulated them in the book “Rapid Application Development” in 1991.

There was indeed some confusion about the meaning of the word “RAD” even among IT specialists. After all, there were two concepts: RAD as an effective alternative to Waterfall approach and RAD as a specific method developed by Martin. The latter was adapted to UI-intensive business systems, focusing on acceleration of the software development process.

The ideas were further developed and improved upon by RAD pioneers James Kerr and Richard Hunter in their joint book “Inside RAD: How to Build Fully Functional Computer Systems in 90 Days or Less (Systems Design and Implementation).” It described the project manager’s journey of learning and implementing a rapid application development methodology in real life for a real project.

These and many other authors popularized the new methodology as an alternative to traditional software development methods in the project life cycle, highlighting the feedback of the rapid application development process and rapid delivery.

We also recommend you read our article about how to manage remote developers.

Principles of Rapid Application Development (RAD)

RAD principles focus on providing the main benefits of rapid web application development method:

• Increased development speed
• Low cost
• High quality

The last point poses the most problems because the developer and the customer see the approach to software development differently. To address this and other issues, James Martin and his followers identified the following RAD principles:

• Time minimization — the toolkit should aim to reduce complex web development time and meet tight deadlines.
• Prototyping — prototypes should be created to specify customer requirements through multiple prototype iterations.
• Cyclic development — each new version of the product is based on the customer’s evaluation of the previous version, enabling iterative development.
• Collaboration — the development teams must cooperate closely with one another, and each member must be ready to take on several responsibilities.
• Iterative approach to development — each iteration refines the product based on feedback, ensuring progress aligns with evolving project goals and boosting risk reduction.
• Combining testing and system development — testing cycles are conducted alongside development to streamline the process and reduce technical risk.

These principles are used not only during implementation but also apply to all stages of the RAD life cycle, particularly to the stage of organization survey, requirements building, analysis, and design.

We also recommend you read about 5 web development trends for 2023.

RAD software life cycle

In the RAD model, an application goes through four phases.

Requirements analysis and planning phase

Requirements, application functions, and their priority are defined, and information needs are described. The users, with the commitment and participation of the developers, predominantly perform the phase. This phase also outlines the project’s scope, the time and financial framework, and the platforms for launching the software. This boosts a scalable and adaptable foundation for the live production environment.

Design phase

Some users are involved in the system’s technical design under the developers’ direction. RAD teams or subgroups in this phase typically use a combination of collaborative application development (JAD) techniques and CASE tools to transfer user needs into working models — a significant advantage in bridging communication gaps.

JAD (Joint Application Development) is a concept of collaborative application development in which there is close interaction between the customer and the implementers to maximize the efficiency of solving the issues related to the software being developed. This ensures that the system is delivered effectively while incorporating user-specific requirements.

CASE is a set of tools and methods for software design to provide high-quality programs, the absence of errors, and ease of software product maintenance. These tools streamline the basic steps of design, reducing time-consuming iterations.

During the design phase, users can understand, modify, and define a working model of the system that meets their needs. Each process is reviewed in detail, and, if necessary, a partial prototype is created to enhance testing cycles.

The phase results in the creation of:

• General information model of the application
• Functional models of the system and subsystems
• Working prototypes of screens, reports, and dialogues.

In the previous application development models, the prototyping tools didn’t correspond to the real applications and were not used later. In RAD, each prototype becomes a part of the future system.

Development phase

In this phase, rapid application development advantages come into play. They accelerate development as the system is built based on earlier results. Users provide feedback, ensuring the application’s capabilities align with their needs. Testing happens during development, refining the system before it is delivered or deployed.

Deployment phase

The deployment phase involves user training, testing security, and transitioning from the old system to the new one, with preparation for this phase beginning during the design stage. Notably, unlike the rigid structure of the Waterfall model, the RAD methodology project lifecycle is more flexible, allowing phases and their content to adapt or even reduce based on initial conditions.

We also recommend you read our comparison of Ionic vs Electron.

Pros and cons of RAD (Rapid Application Development)

Whether or not to use rapid application development largely depends on the starting conditions, customer requirements, and type of application.

The clear advantages of RAD include:

• High quality. User interaction with prototypes enhances functionality in rapid application development projects. This approach ensures the software better aligns with the customer’s (end-user) needs compared to traditional Agile project or Waterfall methodologies.
• Risk control. While the lion’s share of books about RAD focuses on speed and user involvement as key features of the model, we must consider a third significant benefit — risk mitigation. Interestingly, Boehm, who created the first version of RAD, characterized the spiral model as risk-based. The use of rapid application development allows us to focus on the main risk factors early on and adapt to them.
• More projects are completed per unit of time and within budget. Since RAD follows an incremental development model, it reduces the chances of critical errors often found in large Waterfall projects. Unlike Waterfall, which requires six or more months of analysis and development before implementation, RAD projects deliver results faster by uncovering all necessary information earlier, during the application creation process itself.

The incremental development model is a software development format that divides the product into relatively independent components. They are developed and put into operation separately.

The disadvantages of RAD include:

• Novelty risk. RAD is a novelty for most IT companies, requiring rethinking familiar working methods. Resistance to the new and the need to learn tools and techniques from scratch leads to mistakes during the first implementations of rapid application development.
• Reduced control. An adaptive process, as one of the advantages of RAD, ideally means the ability to quickly adapt to both problems and opportunities. Unfortunately, we will have to prefer one thing or the other — flexibility or control. A rapid application development methodology would not be viable in the latter case, as it prioritizes best practices over rigid control.
• Paucity of design. The focus on prototypes, in some cases, leads to a hack methodology where developers are constantly making minor changes to individual elements and ignoring the broader system architecture issues. This approach can make it difficult to finalize product stability and scalability, particularly when the final version is deployed in a web environment.
• Scalability lack. Primarily RAD is used by small and medium-sized project teams. The disadvantages of rapid application development methodology are especially evident when RAD is used to work on large projects.

Suppose users cannot constantly participate in the development process throughout the entire lifecycle. In that case, it can negatively affect the final product. A feature of RAD is increased interaction between users and developers, unlike Waterfall models, in which the role of users is reduced to defining requirements.

To ensure continuous collaboration and deliver better results, contact MaybeWorks today! Let our experts guide you through the RAD process.

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Comparing RAD to Other Development Models

RAD vs. Waterfall

The Waterfall model is linear and structured, with clearly defined phases such as planning, development, and testing. In contrast, RAD development emphasizes an iterative design process that prioritizes rapid prototyping and adaptability. This flexibility allows RAD to accommodate changing project requirements, while Waterfall struggles to handle mid-project adjustments. Additionally, RAD’s focus on quick development and collaborative efforts helps reduce deadlines and ensures faster delivery of the final working model.

RAD vs. Agile

Both RAD and Agile embrace iterative methodologies, but they differ in focus. Agile emphasizes agile project management practices, encouraging continuous collaboration and incremental improvements. RAD, on the other hand, prioritizes tools and techniques for RAD application development, leveraging automation and reusable modules to accelerate project completion. While Agile thrives in projects requiring extensive team involvement, RAD’s modularized approach makes it a better fit for projects needing accelerated time to market with a functional product.

RAD vs. Low-Code/No-Code Platforms

Low-code/no-code platforms aim to make backend and UI development framework more accessible, enabling even beginners to create apps without extensive coding experience. However, RAD focuses on creating robust applications through an experienced team of professionals using specialized rapid application development tools. While low-code solutions are ideal for simpler projects, RAD is better suited for projects requiring better quality and the ability to tackle challenging requirements. Furthermore, RAD allows for full customization and scalability, unlike low-code platforms that may have limitations in modularization and advanced functionality.

Who should and shouldn’t use RAD?

RAD methodology is suitable for your project if:

• Speed and ease of development are vital for it.
• Project development priorities are clearly defined.
• Application needs to be developed in a short time.
• Project is implemented on a limited budget.
• Main criterion is the user interface.
• It is possible to break down the project into functional components.

The rapid application development methodology will not suit your project if:

• Quality and control are vital for it.
• You are talking about creating a large-scale project because the supposed maximum rapid app development time is 60-90 days, and when writing hundreds of thousands of lines of code, it is almost impossible to observe this limitation.
• High level of planning, strict design discipline, and strict adherence to previously developed protocols and interfaces are critical for implementation.
• Safety of people depends to a certain extent on the application.

Rapid application development (RAD) is an incremental software development model. The key parameters that RAD operates on are speed and convenience of programming. The methodology will be an excellent choice for the realization of small projects with limited budgets, which need to be developed quickly. It is better to choose other software development models for large-scale systems with high control and planning requirements.

For fast, efficient RAD solutions, contact MaybeWorks today! Our expert developers are ready to help.

Tools and Platforms for Rapid Application Development

Prototyping Tools

Prototyping tools are at the heart of rapid enterprise application development, helping teams visualize ideas and test services quickly. Platforms like Figma and Sketch are excellent examples, offering features that support rapid iterations and the use of reusable components, ensuring designs stay flexible and adaptable to evolving objectives.

Feedback and Collaboration Tools

For any rapid application developer, clear communication during the project is essential. Platforms like Trello and Slack help teams gather feedback at every step, from initial design to finalization stage, address communication breakdowns, and streamline delivery. This, for sure, leads to faster and more reliable results.

Leading RAD Platforms

Top RAD web tools (for example, Mendix and OutSystems) offer everything needed for building web applications efficiently. With features for debugging, final testing, and automation, these platforms align with the RAD model, making it easier to focus on quick, high-quality results.

MaybeWorks expertise in hybrid mobile application

MaybeWorks developers worked on a hybrid mobile application based on an Ionic framework that allows users to report breakdowns and request services from any location. The app works perfectly on all mobile platforms including, but not limited to: iOs, Android, and browsers. If we compare React Native with Ionic, Ionic’s web strengths shine here—check our article for more. This app was developed according to RAD methodology — with iterative cycles to refine functionality and ensure optimal performance. All the development processes have been organized on a top level: hired MaybeWorks developers with previous experience in RAD web development provided great increment to the project.

The client’s main purpose was to create a Uber-like hybrid application on the Ionic framework for drivers with breakdowns on the road. The application should be fully responsive and stably perform with high load.

The client augmented its remote team of freelancers with MaybeWorks front-end developers. They assisted in 6 iterations based on RAD methodology for 3 months. All processes have been professionally managed with clear communication and requirements at each stage. MaybeWorks frontend developers’ aim was:

• Increase the code quality of Ionic application (refactor, optimize, etc.).
• Add integration with Stripe and create a whole payment flow from scratch.
• Customize usage of Google Maps on the application (since it is basically the cornerstone of the entire project).
• Work on an admin panel (adding multiple new features).

As an outcome of all these efforts and RAD methodology, MaybeWorks frontend developers and a remote team of freelancers have successfully released the UK’s first nationwide on-demand roadside assistance network.

Feel free to contact us to discuss your rapid application development assistance.

FAQ

1. Can RAD be used for projects requiring strict compliance with regulations?

   Yes, RAD can be adapted for regulated industries, but it requires thorough documentation and strict adherence to compliance standards. Skilled developers and effective collaboration ensure that all regulatory scenarios are addressed without compromising the rapid workflow.

2. How does RAD impact long-term software maintenance costs?

   RAD can reduce maintenance costs by delivering a finalized, well-tested product that prioritizes rapid prototyping and iterative design. However, if proper documentation is skipped during development, it might increase costs in the long run.

3. Can RAD be applied to mobile app development, and how?

   Absolutely! RAD approach is ideal for mobile app development as it’s highly adaptable and allows for rapid iterations. Using RAD tools and technologies, development professionals can prototype, test, and deploy apps quickly while refining them based on user feedback.

4. Are there industries where RAD is not recommended? Why?

   RAD is not ideal for industries with rigid workflows or high technical risk, such as aerospace or healthcare, where compliance and precision are non-negotiable. Traditional development or hybrid models may offer better control in such cases.

5. Is it possible to blend RAD with other software development models?

   Yes, RAD can complement agile software development or traditional methods by focusing on rapid prototyping during certain phases. This blended approach combines the agility of RAD with the structure of other models to suit specific project needs.