Software development can be a tricky process. If you don’t get it quite right then projects can end up on the scrapheap and with a few different annoyed parties to boot. While there are some common problems that can crop up in development, knowing what they are and how they come about will help you to avoid them.
Let’s take a look at 5 of the most common software development issues that people run into.
1. Agreeing to poor requirements
A common issue when it comes to failures in software development is starting out on the wrong foot with poor initial requirements. While a project may not include all the requirements of the system upfront - which can be brought in later, particularly if following Agile development practices - both the client and the developer should have a fair idea of project scope in mind.
How can you avoid having poor requirements? It is important to have in mind what actual software requirements look like! Here is just one example, but seek out others to get a better idea. Unfortunately, since there is usually far less knowledge of what should be required in the document from the clients’ side, they’ll need to rely on developers to guide them. The requirements gathering phase may take a considerable amount of time.
2. Poor communication between stakeholders
Poor communication can happen in any of the relationships involved in the software development process, be it internally in teams, between teams, with client and project management, between finance and project management, etc., etc.
This is a more common problem to run into in software development where people have not worked together previously. So how can you avoid this problem, particularly if you are a client looking to engage a new software development house or solo developers? The best way is to have a read through their feedback from previous clients. A list of accolades from previous clients with great results is usually a good indicator.
3. Missing the right team members
Different software development projects need different team members depending on the project’s goals. For instance, a new startup developing a B2C web app will need more UX/UI expertise, whereas a company updating its internal legacy systems may need developers with deep C-language knowledge. The bigger the project, the more management will be necessary, too.
Hiring for target-language expertise only is not the right way to go about doing software development. It is good practice to have a variety of team members, each with their own expertise, and also match each person’s experience to the type of project.
4. Costing troubles
Costing troubles will always crop up in any project where either the client or development team is not experienced in costing. This is often the case in agreements on fixed price projects. Since requirements can change, this may make it difficult for developers who feel like they have already done far over and above the fiscally feasible hours they should have put into a project. They may refuse to do any further work unless a new payment plan is put into place.
To reduce the risk of this occurring, it’s better for fixed prices to be avoided and instead work on an hourly rate. Clients should be able to check in on development at all times to see what has been achieved.
5. Inadequate testing
Is the software full of bugs? That will happen due to inadequate testing. You can tell poorly made software when any deviations from standard workflows result in strange application behaviour. Unfortunately, this is an all too common occurrence.
When continuous testing and test automation are built into the software from the beginning, it can help to alleviate the risk of inadequate testing. Another way to avoid these risks is to have large software applications comprise of microservices with APIs to communicate with each other. By building the software piecewise, and testing with each code update, we can catch bugs quickly and fix them before they combine into a mess.
Want reliable software development to avoid these troubles?
The CodeFirst team has plenty of experience working on a variety of different types of software projects, each with their own requirements, team setups, and repeatable processes. If you are looking for a software development partner, or experienced developers to augment your team, then look to us. Make sure to get in contact to see where we can help your software project become a viable, tangible, and stable solution.