Software development is the core of any IT operation. The importance of this line of work can be realized by the fact that 26.9 million developers are working all over the globe. This process is nothing more than translating the user’s needs into a software product at its core. However, we still see a lot of development projects being plagued by late finish dates, budget overruns, failure to meet business expectations, and in some cases, outright failure or project abandonment.

Here are the top five tips for upgrading your software development process to a more streamlined practice.

1. Have a Concrete Plan from Start

Like any other engineering project, software development relies vastly on planning. You need to set clear targets and make a strategy from the start to ensure that the process goes smoothly.

There is a massive communication gap between the client, developers, and the management. This leads to the developers not understanding the goals, and the result is compromised.

Suppose you want to ensure that your software development project is streamlined. In that case, the first and the most obvious step is to set concrete goals and divide the deliverables into attainable time-specific goals. This will avoid time and cost overruns and ensure that the client gets exactly what they are looking for.

Another thing that needs to be added here is that communication is the most important thing to make a software development project successful. Effective and timely communication between the development team and the client is necessary to get desired results.

2. Carefully Select the Target Platforms

There are a lot of desktop platforms and two major mobile platforms for developing apps. Windows and Mac are the most popular in the desktop world, while the duopoly of Android and iOS dominates the mobile world.

The thing to realize here is that you do not have to develop for every one of these platforms. If the client requires any specific platform(s), that’s what you need to focus on. Otherwise, select the target platform according to user demand and concentrate the development efforts on them.

You can develop for all platforms, sure, but ask yourself: Are the users on a specific platform worth the effort needed to create for that? If yes, include that platform in your development process. If not, leave it alone and try to perfect the application for the forum you want to develop.

3. Build a Code Library

In modern software development, efficiency is the name of the game. A pro tip that can help you make your development process efficient is building a library of the codes you frequently use in your projects. This will save you from coding again and again from scratch, saving you a considerable amount of time.

There are a few things that you need to be mindful of while making a code library. First and foremost, the codes in the library need to be arranged in such a way that they can be accessed and used readily without having to waste time.

Secondly, you need to keep updating these codes regularly to ensure they do not have any vulnerability that can be exploited.

Thirdly, don’t rely on the code library too much. Only use the codes for repetitive processes that are common across apps. It is a good development practice to keep as much code unique for each app as possible.

4. Shift Left Testing

This is the most important tip for a streamlined software development lifecycle. Testing is not something to do after an app has been developed. It needs to be a part of the process from the very start.

Shift Left Testing is a practice where you start testing the software for all kinds of vulnerabilities as early on in the development process as possible. This makes sure that any threats, vulnerabilities, bugs, and other problems in the code are detected and rectified at earlier stages.

This also needs full and close collaboration of the development and testing teams if the project is big enough for dedicated teams to work on it. As mentioned earlier, timely and efficient communication between the development and security/testing teams is crucial for success.

Here’s an in-depth explanation of how shift left testing works and how it can help you streamline the development process.

5. Automate Deployment

The last tip for efficient and streamlined development is to use tools to automate the application’s deployment process. There are a lot of tools available that can make it possible for you. Solutions like Dockers and Kubernetes can make it possible for you to automate deployment and scale the app without increasing the size of your team.

Another benefit of using these tools is that they can work across platforms, making it possible for you to deploy the app on more than one platform with little to no extra effort.

These tools work the best with containerized apps and can help you make logical units consisting of numerous containers to make deployment and scalability easier for you.

6. Conclusion

Software development is the heart and soul of IT. The most important thing to streamline the development process is to ensure that your efforts are converted into concrete results with the highest possible efficiency level.

You can simplify the software development process by making and following a plan from the first day, having effective communication, targeting specific platforms, building a library of commonly used codes, following the principles of shift-left testing, and leveraging the potential of deployment automation tools.

The most important thing of all these is making sure that testing is made a part of the software development lifecycle from the very start.