The Do’s and Don’ts of Software Development

Why Custom Software is Needed?

Every enterprise has its functional environment defined by its challenges, needs and capabilities. With time businesses have realized the potential of custom software engineering. With custom software development, organizations choose features and tools best suited to their needs. It even allows them to integrate custom security features they want. That helps businesses to save money and ensures safe business with custom security tools.

Custom software permits the professionals to fulfil their necessities which are unique to them. This helps businesses gain a competitive edge and utilise custom application development services to build processes that define a real selling point. 

Although a custom software development solution is of so much importance for your business, the decisions regarding the right design and implementation of the software are very crucial. The changing standards of custom software have affected the software development scenario. Moreover, the questions such as in-house development or outsourcing software development services, is quizzing.

So, to help you and your organization to ride the complex yet a simple wave of custom software development, in this article, we bring to you the do’s and don’ts of software development.    

Do’s and Don’ts of Software Development

1. Target Audience:
   • Do’s – The enterprise software development process should not be focused on just one platform. In the present world, the digital ecosystem can not only be focused on laptops and desktops. According to smallbizgenius.net, there are 5.11 billion unique mobile users on the planet. This means that the business needs to become more and more mobile-friendly. The software development services need to build applications that are target audience friendly and allow seamless shift across devices with full functionality. 
   • Don’ts – It would be a huge error if applications are only built keeping in mind the desktop or laptop devices. Most of the small businesses utilise hand held devices like mobile and tablets to conduct their business operations. A limited device user experience of any custom applications might be very useful for the core business processes, but they do not remain practicable for global users. 
2. Choosing Technology Stack:
   • Do’s – A good mix of technology stack has a huge impact on the success of the product. The time taken, quality, and the cost may differ depending on this stack. Moreover, the same technology chosen by the software development company affects the scalability of the software. Therefore, it is very important that reliable technology and development tools are used for the custom software development.
   • Don’ts – The most common error made while choosing the technology stack is selecting the latest and the greatest technology out there. Developers must always remember that the needs and wants of each business are different. The budget, scope and timeline for each project also vary. The software development services should keep this in mind before defining the stack.
3. Design and Development:
   • Do’s – While developing the application, the software development team must look into the requirements of the UI/UX. The needs of the business and the target audience must be kept foremost. Any changes to the application should be made with full consensus and the support of the development and management team.
   • Don’ts – Designing takes the most crucial part in the planning phase of the project. It is important to consider the essential requirements while designing the software. If any requirement is avoided or misinterpreted, the final product may end up being unsatisfactory and unproductive. 
4. Data Security:
   • Do’s – With rapid digitalization, the rate of growth in cyber crimes has increased. Keeping this in mind, the developers must use software development tools and techniques that restrict unwanted access to the website that might create a data security risk. Using encrypted tools and multi-factor authentication helps to eliminate such dangers.
   • Don’ts – Cyber thieves or hackers have become very smart and cutting edge. As per legal jobs.io, an increasing number of breaches are costing companies figures in the millions of dollars. Financial and manufacturing sectors have the highest percentage of exposed sensitive files at 21%.
   • Therefore, storing critical information as plain text on the application is like leaving a 24K diamond in an open garden. If your data is present without any security and as plain text, then hackers will access them in no time.
5. Quality Assessment:
   • Do’s – When you proceed with the business with utmost carefulness, it is equally important to end the business on an equally high note. Therefore, conducting a QA test at the end of the project will help to understand any compatibility, interface, security, and performance issues with the final product.
   • Don’ts – The software development project team should not be careless about finding bugs from functionalities, and security licenses. The application should pass through all phases of testing and should not be launched before it is complete.
6. Communication:
   • Do’s – For any project custom software development company deploy a team of people to meet the client’s requirement. Therefore, communication is very essential for better product development. Bad communication may not only affect the product but also the brand name of the custom software development services enterprise. Also, if relevant customer inputs are not conveyed on time, the cost and time of the project may cross the planned estimations.
   • Hence, investing in good communication can help both the client-side and the production team to convey messages on time and to the exact person.
   • Don’ts – Do not allow misunderstanding to prosper due to lack of good communication. Any gap between the user and the developer, developer and a QA analyst, or an analyst and a client manager, can lead to confusion and take the project off track. Such miscommunications may create wrong perceptions and a bad image of the software development project team.

Conclusion

Since custom software development happens based on the individual requirements of each company, they save time and outlays in the long run. Make a wise decision about hiring an in-house developer or outsourcing the job to software development companies. Investing in experienced software engineering firms is always a good idea since they have sufficient experience and the ability to support and undertake the agile development process.

Study successful custom application development case studies to learn more about the experiences and common mistakes that may happen during the course of software development. Follow the do’s and the don’ts of the production process to develop a robust and agile custom software.