Whether you’re taking on your first major software project or are trying to revamp your software engineering process, we have some tips to help your team stay on track for project success. Without the proper knowledge, any project is threatened with failure. Mitigate the risk by understanding what makes a a development project successful and and how you can incorporate those strategies into your own development process.
What Makes Software Projects Successful?
The short answer: It depends. Success can be defined differently depending on who you’re talking to. However, there are a few common factors in software development that can typically point to successful software projects.
Deliverables
When you begin a software project, the business and IT team will work together to outline a list of deliverables. Deliverables are essentially products of software development, such as the various software programs you may be building and the features that you include in those programs. Your software development teams agrees to deliver those products on time and fully completed.
So, following through on those promises is one way to achieve software development success. You may ask yourself some of the following questions:
- Did we deliver the product on time?
- Was the product fully complete?
- Was the product free of any major bugs or errors?
- Did the product meet the client’s expectations and requirements?
If you can answer yes to all of these questions, chances are your development team has been at least partially successful.
Customer Satisfaction
Deliverables aren’t the only measure of success. When the final product is delivered, what is the business’ reaction?
- Are they satisfied with the final product?
- Do they believe all of their feasible requests were met?
- Are they happy with the usability of the product?
- Did you stay within budget?
- Did you communicate adequately?
Software development hinges largely on the satisfaction of the business for which the software is built. If they’re happy with what’s been created, you’re one step closer to success.
Product Engagement
Finally, consider product engagement. Ask yourself:
- Are users enjoying the product?
- Is it adding value to their lives, either in the form of entertainment or productivity?
- Are they experiencing few to no bugs?
- Are they spending the expected amount of time or more on the software?
- Are users coming back for more?
- If there are reviews or pieces of feedback, are they positive?
While it’s important for the client to be happy, it’s just as important that the users themselves are finding the software easy and enjoyable to use.
Steps for Software Project Success
Now that we’ve talked about what it means for your software project to be successful, let’s dive into tips for great software engineering.
1. Work With The Right Team
To create great software, you need a great development team. However, a common misconception is that as long as you have great developers, you’re good to go. While great software developers who know their way around code are essential to a team, you’ll need more than that for successful software engineering.
In addition to software developers, your team will also benefit from the addition of project managers, business analysts, and quality assurance experts. You don’t necessarily need teammates for each of these positions, but you should have members of the team with experience in each category.
All of your teammates should also have some similar characteristics. They should be:
- Detail-oriented
- Great with time management
- Flexible
- Problem solvers
In addition, you’ll probably want to make sure that they have some technical experience and experience with user design.
2. Set Clear Objectives
Keep your team and your customers on the same page by setting clear objectives at the beginning of your software projects. Typically, this begins in planning meetings with the development team and/or business. There, you can decide the scope of the project, what essential functionalities must be included in the code, what data is needed for the project, the order of the tasks, etc.
Many software teams will also take advantage of design tools to create high-definition designs of the software in advance. It gives developers a clear picture of what to build and it helps business stakeholders visualize the outcome in advance.
This part will also help your team determine the deliverables that need to be completed by the end of the project.
3. Practice Effective Project Management
Before you dive into a project, determine how you plan to manage the project to keep it on time and within budget.
Agile Method
Many software engineering companies have left behind the waterfall method and transitioned to the agile method for software development.
Contrary to the waterfall method, agile software development doesn’t move in a linear fashion. Instead, it cycles through each phase of the project, allowing you to make changes and adjustments to the code during any stage of the software development lifecycle.
Rather than following a rigid, step-by-step plan during projects, development teams have the ability to make changes that reduce errors, increase efficiency, and improve the product overall.
However, using the agile method doesn’t mean you get to skip making a plan. Some software engineering companies use the agile method as an excuse to begin a project quickly without creating a game plan first; this will often lead to failure or, at the very least, will risk major issues down the road.
A roadmap ensures the software project stays on time and creates visibility for teammates and customers alike.
Project Management Tools
Being flexible and open to change during the development process can risk failure if a business isn’t prepared. For that reason, project management tools are essential for software engineering.
Whether you’re using a packaged software solution like Trello or Asana or you create your own tool, you’ll want a central location to keep track of tasks, their deadlines, and who’s responsible.
Communication
As with any project, clear and consistent communication is imperative for software development. Don’t let a lack of collaboration lead to failure for your team. Many successful software development teams will have regularly scheduled meetings, often happening every day or multiple times a week. During these meetings, teammates can discuss what they’re currently working on, if they’re on schedule, and what obstacles they may need help with.
By having these regular touch points, you can collect data that helps identify where and when a project may be falling behind, so you can create a plan to address it immediately. It will also help your team streamline the software process by ensuring no one is unknowingly working on the same task or issue.
Make sure your team is connected no matter where they are by utilizing messaging and video call programs, such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Zoom. Having a quick, centralized place for messaging and questions will keep everyone in the loop and allows for fast response times.
4. Test Frequently With End Users in Mind
One of the best and most important things you can do for your software engineering project is to test frequently and to do it with the end user in mind. As the development team completes parts of the project, continuously perform quality assurance tests to make sure everything is working as expected and that all data is displayed as intended.
Testing will allow the team to reduce risk of failure by detecting bugs and fixing them before the software is ever launched. Plus, the software engineering team can identify any inefficiencies or illogical processes that weren’t caught in the design and development phases.
To achieve software development success, the product can’t only be easy to use and understandable for the team that’s building it. Users with no background knowledge or experience must be able to use the software without issues.
5. Be Open to Change and Optimization
Don’t be a broken record. If you find yourself or your team often repeating phrases like “This is how we’ve always done it,” you probably want to take a closer look at the problem. Are you sticking with current software engineering processes because they’re the most effective and efficient or because they’re the most comfortable?
It’s also important that you don’t shy away from changes in the plan. As the software project progresses, your development team may identify areas for improvement or potential issues. Be flexible and change the plan as much as necessary while still keeping the project on-time and on-budget.
Don’t sacrifice higher efficiency, better usability, and greater customer satisfaction out of the fear of change. Keep an open mind and always consider a situation from multiple angles.
At Geneca, we put these 5 steps and more into our software process to ensure our customer is satisfied every time. If you’re ready to partner with a team that can make your technology dreams a reality, contact us today.