Development projects are difficult to manage. If done incorrectly, your idea can turn into a costly mistake. Most business owners find software management unnecessarily confusing and hire someone to deal with any issues. Even if you aren’t familiar with software development, you should know the common pitfalls to avoid total disaster.
Unrealistic Time Table
Good software development takes time. Be wary of software developers who tell you changes to a project are quick and easy. Projects don’t hit deadlines when the deadline is unrealistic. If you rely on business managers to work with project managers to determine a deadline, set goals that don’t make your developers rush. Rushed developers make mistakes, and these mistakes can result in bugs that cost you money.
Too Little or Too Many Resources
Knowing the number of resources you need is difficult, especially when you aren’t familiar with the process of software development. Your developers should have enough work to keep them busy, but you don’t want to overload them with too much work. You also need someone who manages the team and acts as the communication between developers and managers.
Beware of adding too many resources to the project. This might not seem like a bad idea at first, but too many resources can complicate the project and prolong it. This issue can also make it difficult to streamline instructions for the development team.
Third-Party Tools That Don’t Integrate Well
Make sure that any free tools you implement scale well and work for your business. You don’t want to limit your ability to add features to your software, so limit your reliability on third-party plugins. Once those tools are implemented, it’s hard to move away from them.
Incorrect Budget Calculations
Software development for any startup is expensive. Ensure that your budget fits the project specifications. You need to hire the right talent at the right price whether it’s outsourcing or in-house. The wrong developer (even if they work for cheap) can ruin your project and cost you money in bug fixes and code overhauls.
Choosing the Wrong Platform
You need the right developers for the right platform. If you hire developers and then choose a platform, they won’t be able to manage the engineering as experts. Developers can help you decide on a platform, but they need to understand how to configure and manage the system. Whether it’s open-source or closed-source environments, always match the system with the expertise of your developers and infrastructure managers.
Poor Documentation
Always document exactly what you want for your software. It’s your idea, so you need to translate the idea into documentation that developers can use to create it. Documentation should outline all of the business rules and functionality you need from development teams. Include wireframes, which are images that lay out screens and help UI creators manage navigation and user interface elements.
Poor documentation can also lead to misunderstandings. You don’t want to spend money on developer time only to have them create a completely off-spec application. Clearly define each element, business rule, and styles you want included in the application.
Scope Creep
Scope creep can happen on any type of project. Scope creep happens when you define a list of rules for the project and continue to add new functionality or requirements without extending the deadline and budget. It can also lead to unintentional changes in your software as developers try to make changes on-the-fly without proper documentation. Handle scope creep with care, because simple changes can actually create large issues.
Poor Testing
Always test your software, and don’t assume that the developer unit tests are sufficient for quality analysis. Software developers aren’t good for testing, because they wrote the software and know how it works. Hire a separate team unfamiliar with the software to test it as a user. Testers find bugs where developers won’t see them. Someone unfamiliar with how the application was coded provides you with usability feedback that you don’t want to get from users. You want your testers to find bugs not your customers.
Most companies, including NetWow Technologies, have development, staging and production servers. Development servers are for the developers to code new functionality, and it’s usually an unstable environment since it’s for development and testing. Staging servers should be an exact replica of your production environment. Developers upload new code to staging where your testers verify the stability of the application. After testing completes and quality assurance tests pass, you can move the changes to a production server where your users and customers work with your software.
Ignoring Security
Some software developers ignore security in exchange for convenient coding. It’s a mistake to forget security. At NetWow our system testers use penetration testing software to verify that there are no security holes in your application. It’s not a guarantee, but penetration testing software finds several of the common issues with applications. Even if the application is only used internally, you should still test for any security flaws.
If you wonder about the implications of poor security, take a look at Target. Target’s security flaw allowed hackers to gain access to millions of customer credit card numbers.
These pitfalls can be avoided with the right development team. The team should include developers, project managers, and business analysts.
