Without software, mobile or computer hardware can’t run and is only a shell of plastic, silicone, and metal.
So with software playing such an integral role, it comes as no surprise that the importance of the software development process has gained a lot of traction over the last few years.
After all, you can’t hope to achieve future innovations and transformations using outdated software development processes.
With that said, the only way of streamlining the completion of your projects is by perfecting your software development process.
Here’s a guide detailing surefire tips on how you can improve this process, thereby boosting your team’s efficiency and eventually company productivity.
1. Select An Ideal Methodology
There are different steps to follow during the software development life cycle (SDLC), from the idea to implementation and past that.
Because of this, the first thing you need to do during software development Dallas is to select an ideal software development methodology to enhance the development process and its outcome.
The steps followed during the SDCL include;
- Analysis and planning
- Design and prototyping
- Building and coding
- Technical requirements
- Deployment
- Maintenance and updates
These steps don’t necessarily happen in this order and instead depend on your precise project size, goals, and needs.
The software development methodology to consider includes Agile, Waterfall, Scrum, Lean, and Kanban.
To know the best methodology, you need to assess your budget, capacity, scope, determine functional and non-functional requirements, and know your goals.
Your software development process won’t have any direction or purpose if you don’t do this. As a result, you’ll experience issues such as budget overruns, extended timetables, inferior product quality, and project failure.
2. Create And Optimize Workflow
Although creating an optimized workflow is essential for the success of the software development process, some teams usually overlook its importance.
It usually happens due to the assumption by the team that they’re already familiar with the entire software development process.
But because the SDLC follows different steps that are somewhat complicated, it’s easy to make a mistake that results in inefficiencies later.
With this in mind, it’s advisable to optimize the workflow to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the software development process.
Doing this also helps determine if there are tasks that were killed before they were completed. And to identify any inefficiencies during the entire process, some of the questions you should ask yourself are;
- Do developers often kill tasks before they reach completion?
- Do developers constantly reopen tasks that have been indicated as complete?
- Are there sluggish stages in your software development process?
- Is there work buildup for one or a couple of developers?
Having the answers to these questions, while it may not necessarily guarantee a smooth workflow creation at first, will help you identify bottlenecks affecting your workflow.
It will then offer you insights on how to streamline your workflow best.
3. Have An Exact Definition Of ‘Done’
You can also perfect your software development process by having an exact definition of ‘done.’ It is vital because the term ‘done’ to software developers has different meanings.
Therefore, not knowing the correct meaning you’re talking about means the finished tasks might not be of desirable performance and quality.
In addition, a lot of time ends up wasted due to the constant need to redo a task, thereby slowing down the entire software development process.
To avoid such issues, your whole team needs to have a clear understanding of the Definition of Done (DOD), which follows specific rules, including;
- The QA reviewed the feature
- The documentation is updated
- Feature is implemented
- Unit tests are passing
- Code is in the master branch
- Deployment of code to production
When every team member fully understands these rules, the process becomes less ambiguous, removing any bottlenecks or inefficiencies. It means once a process is complete, it certainly is, thereby ensuring the entire software development process runs a lot more smoothly.
4. Ensure To Implement Code Reviews And Testing
The last thing you want your software to have is bugs or poor quality, as this makes customers lose trust in your brand.
Luckily, you can prevent this from getting to such a point by implementing a code review of all the written code and testing to confirm the software is of acceptable quality.
During the code review, your coding team examines the different processes, which might be somewhat complicated.
The code review system helps promote communication and culture within your software development team and improve the software’s quality.
In contrast, testing looks to find possible issues with the software until it meets your desired specifications. When doing the tests, there are helpful tips you should consider, and these include;
- Pair programming entails different persons reviewing all the written code using in-built cross-checks, ideally with a minimum of two developers.
- Perform simultaneous testing to track and fix bugs that arise during the software development process through automated testing.
- Final testing where your team ensures that software products and features are good to go, but there’s still a need for another comprehensive testing.
It’s only through testing across the tools, work methods, and processes will developers manage to guarantee software development quality.
Testing also helps prevent project failure and guides your team to identify possible issues before selling the software to your customers.
5. Limit Your Work In Progress (WIP)
Another way of perfecting your software development process is by restricting the work in progress. It is crucial because running multiple tasks at once increases the chances of errors.
In addition, it slows down the entire process by increasing cycle times because of handling too many tasks simultaneously.
It’s a well-known fact that multitasking ruins efficiency. Therefore, you should reduce the number of tasks in progress during the software development process to lower the cycle times.
Besides improving the quality of work, the software development team will be much happier because this entire process becomes less hectic.
Takeaway
The software development process is constantly evolving. Constant development aims to reduce the time for marketing delivery, improve processes, prevent costs from rising, and improve the quality of the final product.
These are benefits you don’t want to miss out on or risk losing your competitive edge. Fortunately, it won’t reach this point thanks to this article that has detailed the surefire tips on perfecting your software development process and taking your company to the next level.
