Category Archives: Software development process

Effective Software Development – Best Practices

A software development company should always be on the lookout for methods to develop software in the most effective manner. This is because as the competition grows, a software service provider could fall behind in the race, if it does not stay updated with current trends, technologies and best practices. An effective software solutions firm is curious, inquisitive and pragmatic. It should have the willingness to learn and even unlearn different process flows, required to provide high quality services for its clients. It should also be able to choose the right tools, technologies, techniques and methods.

It is recommended that a developer should put into practice – a set of proven and effective guidelines to ensure project success. When carrying out project work, the first step is adopting a comprehensive but practical approach that will maximize chances of a successful end result.

System maintenance is a significant requirement. A software system undergoes various changes once it is delivered to a client, thus your programs should be flexible enough to inculcate the necessary changes required swiftly.

One of the hallmarks of a great IT workforce is that, it should be curious, inquisitive and pragmatic. Curiosity – for learning new technologies, an eagerness to grasp efficient techniques is paramount. Inquisitive refers to investigating and questioning every insight that the team comes across, during various stages of a software development cycle. Pragmatism involves choosing the best fit technologies, tools, techniques and methods.

Every company has its own phases of development. The typical phases of developing software includes analysis of software needs, design, identification of the software required, programming, detailed specs of the exact requirements, testing and maintenance. Developers should keep in mind that this kind of development is nothing like producing cars. When a car is ready, the one who buys it does not go back to the manufacturer and ask to add another wheel or to put engine somewhere else. Building expensive projects is not the same as simple web app building with two pages. Hardware has a specification that one has to code against.

For any project done by the company, it is necessary to have in place and practice a set of proven and effective guidelines to ascertain the success of the work and delivery of expected results. The in-house manager has a vital role in making certain that each phase of the project, is executed, as planned. The project manager has the responsibility to consider the possible risks that is involved and ways to resolve or avoid them as well as establishing and maintaining momentum all throughout the project. Although the life cycle could have a lot of versions, each version carries its own advantages and disadvantages, and all of them have the same steps needed to be more effective. It undergoes a feasibility check before being given the go-ahead. If this proceeds, a proper plan is prepared, along with budget estimates for all the development stages. After the project’s feasibility is tested, system requirements are gathered. Business analysts do a complete analysis and study of business requirements of a company and the trends in the market. Starting from interface to data design, every program is discussed to keep the software in a high level design. The requirement analysis and design phase is considered the most vital part of the SDLC. Any flaw during this phase could prove very costly for further life cycle stages.

The code generation and implementation phase in software building involves the code translation of a well-thought design. Programs desired are built using a conventional programming language and with the aid of programming tools such as Interpreters, Compilers and Debuggers. The code is generated with the use of different high level programming languages that include Pascal, C++, C, Java and more. Besides the requirement analysis, testing is another important stage of SDLC that will decide the functionality and effectiveness of the product. This stage reveals errors and bugs of the system. System testing includes integrating testing to check if the interfaces between modules are in proper working condition. Software system maintenance is an unavoidable need. This development must be flexible in order to inculcate the changes needed with time and the changing business requirements.

Summary

 Software development is a highly qualitative and business critical aspect of any project that business enterprises handle. There are various stages through a development cycle that design, test and validate the effectiveness of a software application in business processes. This article is published by Tatvasoft, a leading software development firm in the UK that specializes in designing variety of software and web applications for a wide variety of clients.