One of the biggest problems in any software business these days is a lack of efficiency. Okay, sure, it’s probably the same for any business. But software businesses are a particularly interesting example because many run on business models that are supposed to take full advantage of the efficiency that technology can bring.
The fact is that most software businesses could produce a lot more than they currently do. The company cultures of these businesses are often laidback to a fault.
It’s true that software development involves complex problem solving that will always result in slowdowns, but if you’ve not set your business up in the right way, then those slowdowns or roadblocks could have a fatal effect on your business.
If you want to increase efficiency in your software company, then this guide is essential!
Agile is the key
Stop trying to resist it. Sure, Agile isn’t perfect. But, much like capitalism, it’s the worst system except for all the others. If you’re using waterfall development strategies, then no wonder you’re finding inefficiencies in your development!
Agile is the best approach if you want to increase efficiency. Of course, there are right ways and wrong ways to implement Agile to your development methodology. Check out this guide to Agile implementation to ensure that you’re doing things right.
Use efficient protocols
Your developers should have a pretty good idea of what protocols and practices best suit the development project on which you’re working.
But in order to properly understand which is the best, you need to do a lot of research and comparisons for yourself. Let’s say you’re working in web development, and you need to find the best communication protocol.
If you want to increase efficiency, then you need to make sure you find the one that works best for your business model and needs. You can check out something like this SOAP vs REST tutorial if you want to know more about the competing protocols in that field.
Don’t skimp on documentation
Here’s a common mistake among software development companies: a design document is created, but allows much room for interpretation. Many changes happen as the project is actually developed, but the design document remains unchanged. Later in the project, a serious problem arises.
When people check the design document for reference, they find that what they made doesn’t resemble the document – and nothing else has been put in its place. The design document should be updated in new versions, and all changes should be documented. Otherwise, people will just get lost, especially QA and newcomers.
Learn from mistakes
If there have been mistakes and inefficiencies, then you need to identify them. A great way of doing this is by creating a postmortem of a previous project.
These are incredibly useful documents that list everything that went right – and, more importantly, everything that went wrong. When you have a thorough list of mistakes, you can start to learn from them. Apply your lessons to new projects.
There are going to be a lot of difficulties in this field, even in the most efficient of software development companies. Your aim isn’t to be perfect – but it should always be to improve.