Software Product Development: 10 Key Practices To Follow

 

Software product development has immensely evolved in the past years resulting in a massive competition among business owners who want to go digital and tech providers offering a plethora of software services. 

Due to the fast-evolving technologies and the introduction of more innovative software solutions to various business problems, the overall tech field has become quite complex. It’s now hard to tell an honest and committed software partner from a mere software services provider. Businesses often find themselves in wrong partnerships that end up leaving them with a failed product and finances poured down the drain. 

The software market value is expected to be around $650.7 billion in 2023. Such immense growth comes with an increasing number of software product development companies and technologies. Creating something that stands out in this huge market can be quite overwhelming.  

However, there are certain accepted standards or practices that can never be canceled. They have to be followed and implemented in the development of pretty much any software product otherwise the whole process will lack the solid foundations that are needed for its success. 

When you know these gold standards, even the choice of a software partner becomes much easier. You simply filter out those that do not work by these standards and get a hold of a list of potential partners choosing from whom comes down to your business’ specific needs and personal preferences. 

So, what are these standards and best practices that we consider the building blocks of software product development? Let’s dive right in!

#1 Detailed Project Scope 

Write down the core functionalities of your project. 

You and your tech partner need to have a clearly defined project scope at hand. You can’t start your product development without having outlined the main goals, expectations, target audience, tech stack, sprint plans, and other relevant details. 

Skipping this important part you risk losing your project, or getting a product built for no one in the best case scenario. Not to mention that you will surely spend more money and invest more time in the development of your product without a project scope. 

To create a neat documentation for your software project you need to: 

• Determine your business goals, needs, and how you imagine to address these needs. 

• Draft the core features and functionalities of your future product.

• Define the target audience, the user personas, and map the user journey. 

• State the value proposition. 

• Determine the project implementation timeline. 

• Set the KPIs. 

Don’t be intimidated by this list. If you don’t have anything but a project idea and don’t have a clue of how to write down your project scope, your software partner should help you with that. A lot of software providers start their partnerships with business owners from practically nothing but an idea at hand. They help organize a high-level software product specification document and only after that they jump onto the actual development process. 

#2 Proper Estimation and Prioritization of Tasks

Set realistic task estimates and project delivery timelines.

Another best practice in software development is the estimation of tasks. Usually, the tech team is responsible for this. We highly recommend that you don’t push too much when it comes to this process. Software vendors with extensive experience usually know better the realistic timelines needed for the development of your project. 

Such things as unexpected change requirements or force majeure situations are also taken into consideration. The rest depends on the professionalism of your tech partner as well as on the specifics of your project. 

#3 Simple Code is Good Code

Write code that is easy to read and manage.

Keeping the code simple should be practiced by your tech team but doesn’t hurt to know about this as a business owner also. 

Simple or clean code is an easily legible and manageable code. Bring it up to your tech partner to know their approach to simple code. 

As a matter of fact, the idea of simple code doesn’t come on its own. As you can find in the book by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt, “The Pragmatic Programmer”, there are also two other important principles that ensure a smooth software development process:  

• DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself): This principle is not dogmatic and might not apply to any situation but as far as it’s possible, don’t waste time on duplication. Smart implementation of code can save a lot of time and money. 

• YAGNI (You Ain’t Gonna Need It): This is an important rule in Agile development. An experienced developer knows that writing additional code for future cases is a lost cause. The future use case can be slightly or completely different from what you have imagined and the code will need to be rewritten.  

The bottom line is focusing on the given task and delivering it on time. Simplicity can go a long way. 

#4 MVP Definition

Create an MVP to save time and finances. 

Have the Minimum Viable Product or the MVP of your project created by your tech team. This can especially be helpful if you are a startup owner. With an MVP you will be able to release your product early, gather user feedback, and make improvements as you go. 

#5 Consistent and Continuous Testing 

Test your product as you go. 

A responsible software partner will not wait till the whole code is written in order to start testing it. Continuous and regular testing is what will be part of their software product development policy. It will ensure that your end product meets your goals and expectations. 

Through regular testing your tech team can identify defects, bugs, errors early on and work on fixing them before it’s too late. This will also help reduce the flows. 

$6 Code Quality Reviews

Have your code peer reviewed. 

Using automation tools or asking fellow programmers to review the written code can highly improve its quality. This way your team will be able to detect problems that otherwise might go unnoticed. Code reviews are an additional way of streamlining and accelerating the development process. 

#7 Maintenance 

Ensure your tech partner guarantees regular maintenance and support. 

Software development doesn’t end with a product that is ready for release or has already been launched. Maintenance and support are an ongoing process and you should expect both from your tech partner. 

Software maintenance will ensure that your product is always up to date and functions smoothly. Your tech team should be able to help you: 

• fix any issues that the users might be facing, 

• update the product according to the changing market demands, 

• add new functionalities or enhance the existing ones,

• keep an eye on the security of your product and ensure it meets the safety standards for users and for your business.

If you look down upon the importance of this phase of your software product development, your solution will end up falling behind in the highly competitive market. 

#8 Security

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it.” - Warren Buffet

Think of a 5-minute cybersecurity incident. If your product doesn’t come with all the relevant security measures in place, you put everything under risk: your software solution, your business, your reputation, your time and money. 

Security should be embedded in the development process from start to finish, in all the phases without exception. This is why choosing a trustworthy and experienced tech partner is of crucial importance. They are the ones responsible for implementing the right cybersecurity practices into your code and your whole product.  

Security measures will future proof your product and your business from having to deal with hackers, data leaks, vulnerabilities that might go unnoticed, and the like. 

#9 Communication

Communication is the key to success.

Ensuring a seamless communication between your tech team and yourself or your in-house team is an inherent and inseparable component of every phase of your software development process. 

We highly recommend choosing the platforms and setting the means of communication right from the start of your partnership. The platform should be convenient for both sides involved. 

Consistent communication will ensure that everyone working on your product development is on the same page. However, it’s important to know the boundaries - don’t try to micromanage. Trust your tech team and let them do the job you hired them for. 

#10 Keeping the Stages of SDLC in Place

“A good system shortens the road to the goal.” - Orison Swett Marden

The generally accepted stages of a standard software development life cycle (SDLC) should be followed. All of the above mentioned practices will be useless if your tech team fails to implement them in a systemized process. 

The phases of SDLC can slightly differ from company to company but the core processes are the same. Here is an example of a common approach: 

• Discovery and Business Analysis

• Project Onboarding and Development Approach Setup

• Iteration Cycle (Requirement Analysis, UI/UX, Development, Testing, Deployment, Maintenance)

• Release

• Ongoing Monitoring and Support

A clearly set SDLC helps ensure that your tech team’s methodologies align with your business objectives and expectations. 

Parting Thoughts 

If your software product development is carried out with all these best practices in mind then you are on the right path of achieving your business goals. 

Above all, your relationships with your software provider will also be taken to a different level - from an ad hoc tech partner they will become an important strategic partner for you and your business. It never hurts to have a safe place to go to in our turbulent times.