Blog > Top 5 Custom Software Development Best Practices
Never venture into any project without considering these top 5 Custom software development best practices.
If you carefully peer into the scientific enterprise, you will observe that one of the factors that have kept it flourishing for centuries is its strict regard for due process. This paradigm has played a vital role in ensuring that what is presented as scientific knowledge is substantial. Just like the sciences, as one keen on developing quality software, one must have strict regard for the procedure and adhere to certain practices.
These practices will determine the outcome of your custom development because, in software development, the means determine the end.
Accordingly, this article explicitly explains five (5) of the best practices that can foster quality software development.
Best five (5) Practices to guarantee quality software development.
1. Formulate Your Objectives and Requirements.
No one develops custom software for development’s sake; it is always a means to an end. The end might either be to solve a problem or meet some other needs. Therefore, it is a necessity that once a company decides to develop custom software, it must establish the objective of the software.
The objective of the software should be formed by assessing the needs of the organization and deciding on what will add value to the business. The information gathered from this assessment will make up the software requirements. Software requirements are essential, and they should reflect essential business needs.
2. Hire/ build the right team.
Whether you are outsourcing or developing in-house, it is of utmost importance that you hire or build the right team. This is in fact, the most reliable way to build quality custom software.
What makes the team the right one for a project? A team is ideal for a project when it’s constituted of individuals that are both skilled and experienced in all the essential areas that will ensure perfect project delivery. Each role should be performed by an individual or individuals suitable and specialized for the role without a shortage of personnel.
It takes way more than developers to ensure the success and development of quality software. The team must consist of personnel such as;
- Project Sponsor, Owner, Manager
- Operational Manager
- Technical Head
- Team Lead
- Software Developers
- Testers
- Users
Therefore, while outsourcing, make due research and be sure that the development company is rich in human capacity. The final note is that always avoid the so-called “Full Stack Engineer”. This term is wrong and not defined in custom or enterprise software engineering reputable companies. For example, in SVCIT, the engineer placed on a project has done that before many times successfully and very much specialized on given tasks.
3. Strategizing and planning.
Custom software development is complex and therefore requires tons of planning. There is a need to decide on the best development methodology (such as Agile, DevOps deployment, etc.), disbursement of the budget in such a way it actualizes the project, etc.
Software designs should also be ready before the commencement of coding.
Frankly, planning is fundamental to the development of quality software. It can connect to the foundation of the project; when poorly built, there is a high risk of failure. No matter if the waterfall process is agile, but it is certain that a combination of both will produce much better results all the time. With the help of domain experts, the custom planning must be done globally and then more custom to the client.
4. Test Development Practice.
During the course of developing the software, planning manual or automated testing is extremely essential to avoid repeating errors and bugs.
This is vital as it aids in detecting bugs and other errors timely. Timely detection of error is advantageous as it gives ample time to make corrections.
Custom software must have a minimum error when it is rolled out for usage by end-users. Through regular testing, this can be achieved as much as possible. Discover problems before clients or end-users do.
5. Simplicity.
Frankly, of what value is software if it can’t be used to perform tasks with ease? The custom software should be of quality yet simple. Unnecessary complexity will make usage difficult and this will defeat the entire purpose of developing the software.
Simplicity should be aimed at, therefore, use simple commands, and keep your designs simple but attractive.
Adherence to these five practices will manifest into a custom software; you will be proud you developed.
Author: SVCIT Editorial
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