10 Software Development Practice That Will Help Your Project

With companies heavily relying on technology, software development has become an increasingly important aspect of modern businesses. Not surprisingly, the software development industry is growing and fundamentally dynamic. The demand for technology keeps increasing. Today, a technology that may seem prominent can become obsolete in no time. 

As 2023 is now here, it becomes imperative for professionals to stay abreast of the evolving practices to meet the ever-increasing demand of the market and maintain a competitive edge.

There are certain practices, if put in the right place, that make the software development process way smoother, cost-effective, and, most importantly, high quality.

The 10 best software development practices to create higher quality software

No doubt, by adhering to the world’s best practices, you can continue to deliver the best to the software market. Here we pulled together some of the most tried best practices in software development that make your project perform better.

1. Start with clearly defined requirements

When it comes to creating software for a new product or service, the most important thing is to be aware of your product or service requirements. Otherwise, how will you know what to create if there are no correctly documented requirements to work toward? Or how will you verify the software and know when the work is completed?

So, try to have proper documentation. Outline the business case, the reason for making the product, and what the system is designed to do. Specify the features your product should include and how they should work. Also, include requirements to verify and validate the product. All of these will help you to keep everyone in your team on the same page.

2. Be selective about the language and framework

Be pragmatic about the language, framework and platforms you are going to use upfront. Being selective from the outset will enable you to avoid potential difficulties as languages or platforms are hard to modify at a later stage. Use application framework to minimise the likelihood of encountering errors. Also, it ensures compatibility across various platforms while saving time and improving efficiency.

3. Keep your code simple

It is a good software development practice you must adopt. Writing complex codes that were fashionable decades ago to show off sophisticated skills is no more work now. The codes now need to be clear and efficient. And an application work seamlessly when there is simple and powerful code behind it. Suppose you can perform the following simple checks to understand whether your code is simple.

• The code is shorter than the comments required to explain it.
• The code is easy to test and understand.
• The has logic boundaries that are contained within a specific domain.

YAGNI and DRY are two of the principles that go hand-in-hand with code simplicity.

YAGNI: You ain’t gonna need it

This principle says not to include a code that is not necessary, even if you think that you might need it in the future. Just implement those that you really need it. On top of that, adding unnecessary codes wastes time and resources that you could better spend elsewhere. So YAGNI is all about keeping software development simple while saving time and money.

DRY: Don’t repeat yourself

This means that you shouldn’t have duplicated code because duplicated codes turn the code more complex and unnecessarily larger. If you have the same code in more than one place, the chances of having bugs in your system rise. Most importantly, computers are smart. So, there is no need to be told something constantly in order to remember it.

4. Always conduct unit test

Always write unit tests before writing the codes and determine what bugs and errors you need to fix even before you start writing the code. Don’t wait until all of your code is in place. It is necessary to conduct continuous testing throughout the software development process. You can consider shifting left testing to prevent detects early in the development lifecycle. Or get started with automated testing at regular intervals and gather feedback on the possibly buggy code.

5. A realistic budget

A realistic budget is necessary for the success of your project. Develop an effective software development budget plan considering your project’s goal, objectives, technology requirements and other expenses like licensing fees or equipment fees. Then review it thoroughly to make sure everything is accounted for accurately.

6. Have a proper code review practice

Conducting code reviews is another software development best practice to catch errors and improve the codebase. There is no such thing as perfect code. Even if there are various software development methods and types of software development, every process requires a code review.

The code review checklist usually includes verifying feature requirements, reviewing the readability, testing maintainability, checking all the security vulnerabilities and more. When you have team members pair up with other software developers to review each other’s code, it not just ensures that all code adheres to the same standard but provides a platform to share ideas and new techniques as well.

7. Implement continuous integration

Continuous integrations make it simpler and easier to handle code changes as it allows you to integrate small pieces of code at one time. And they can be tested as soon as they are integrated, ensuring faster fault isolation. So sudden breakdowns and other critical issues can be prevented.

In order to implement continuous integration, you can establish a shared code repository or set up an automated build process to compile the code. Make sure all developers can access the continuous integration server to monitor the build and test results and set up notifications enabling them to address any issue quickly. As failures are detected faster, it leads to increased release rates.

8. Consider software maintenance beforehand

Consider software maintenance beforehand when you are creating it. Software is always evolving, and the product is never finished. So ongoing product maintenance is vital to uphold software’s quality, prevent degradation and meet user expectations. After all, ensuring the product remains reliable and in optimal question holds equal importance to its initial development. So, from the very first release of your product, start the maintenance process.

9. Always have a backout plan

No matter how hard you work on your software development project, there’s no way you can predict how the malfunction will perform in the future. Hence having a backup plan is crucial. Implement it prior to system upgrade, installation, integration or transformation. Otherwise, if you take your code too far in the wrong way, there is no way back.

10. Focus on agile development

Using Agile methodologies can significantly improve the quality of your software at every release. Your team can be more responsive to changing requirements as Agile acknowledges the fact that customers need change, and the team must be able to adapt. So, it can minimise risk as teams get feedback and act on that daily.

Agile’s reliance on continuous integration eventually led to fully tested, higher-quality products. Agile is even more than adapting to change; it offers user-focused testing. As the process requires a level of collaboration and involvement, it creates alignment and transparency between teams and the product owner as well. That way, the teams remain on the same page about what needs to be delivered.

So, bringing in the mentioned practices can assist you in making the most of your software development process without reinventing the wheel.

Need experts? look no further than Effektiv!

However, in this ever-evolving field, you are required to be adaptable and open towards new practices, tools and techniques to stay up-to-date. So, if you are looking for expert help, contact us. 

We offer you innovative solutions for anything, from product development to software maintenance to software modernisation to integration and automation. Our dedicated team of experts follow the best development practices and is dedicated to bringing success.