As national boundaries get thinner with digital transformation, countries are opting for products and services from around the globe. Demand for enterprise development and software applications are at an all-time high. However, a lot of companies still struggle to find the right team or fail to manage the project efficiently. Such pitfalls lead to a loss in productivity, exceeding budgets, underutilised resources on the bench and a hard-hit revenue. Below we have created a list of common pitfalls in the custom software development process and how to address them to ensure you get a valuable solution for your business needs.
Pitfall #1: Short-term v/s Long-term vision
If you are serious about creating a digital application or a mobile application, you need to think long-term covering the entire product life cycle. When projects are planned with a short-term vision, it leads to underdeveloped solutions that do not cover all functionalities, misguided user experience, and ultimately, project failure. When it comes to hiring a software development team, the entire project should be well planned, as if you were hiring on-premise.
The advantages of outsourcing software development are that the remote team is already trained and the effort, time and money can be communicated upfront. Starting with an introduction and familiarizing with each other can help teams to set up a long-term vision for the project and acknowledge all stakeholder’s perspectives. Such preliminary activities can help to ensure a quality-based output.
Pitfall #2: Doubling the Team Size
A common pitfall in the IT solutions arena occurs from doubling the team size to increase the output. Doubling a team and having more people on board might sound logical for other industries; however, in the software development space, it can be counterproductive. Fred Brooks’ book called the Mythical Man-Month excellently explains that every additional person in a project can increase the time of a project and not decrease it, as same as the Law of diminishing returns in Economics.
The ideal team size for software development is 4-5 people with a backend developer, frontend developer, system administrator and mobile developers. A team of 5 members is cohesive and easy to communicate, compared to a 20-25 member team, which can lead to various bottlenecks in communication. Also, the communication overheads increase project friction and can be counterproductive for software development projects.
Pitfall #3: Leading Without Guidance
Irrespective of the years of experience the software development company has, you just can’t leave them without guidance and expectations. Working with an outsourcing company is definitely different from working with an on-premise team. The requirements of the project should be documented and clearly communicated to the team. An SRS (Software Requirements Specification) document and Contract should be implemented to cover projects milestones, mode of communication, timesheets, reporting schedule, product features, and design guidelines.
A project manager is essential to keep the project communication seamless and is the primary point of contact between the client and the team. The project manager makes sure both parties are on the same page, and all expectations of day-to-day operations and milestones are on schedule.
Additionally, it would help if you never settle with a software development team with no experience in effective project management and client servicing. A full-stack service team can provide you business analysis, project management and design augmentation with UI/UX. Such teams are capable of outstanding development, understand the software development life cycle and have hands-on experience with customer relationships.
Pitfall #4: Low-Cost v/s High Value
Most of the software developers start pitching at a very lower rate which becomes bait for the client. Ultimately everyone is looking for cost-efficient project development often leading to compromised project quality. Generally, lower rates don’t assure seamless project management and quality based software development.
If someone is charging above the market rate with a significant portfolio and has high-level experts and developers, perhaps the higher cost is worth the time, money and project quality. The decision has to be made on how competitive the rates are, project completion success rate, as well as efficiency and the capacity of the team with the given time and money. Going for the lowest bid can be a regretful decision quickly. It is highly recommended to interview and evaluate all software development companies who have bid and then take the final decision.
Pitfall #5: Undocumented Source Code
Most of the companies wouldn’t document the source code if not communicated to them explicitly. No documentation can lead to a lot of confusion in the project, and any change or feature request would lead to havoc. A well-documented source code ensures that if the company grows and new developers are hired in future, the new team can easily understand how the code works. A simple way to avoid confusion in source code is to regularly review code, document if necessary, and tell all your developers to comment periodically.
Pitfall #6: Not Protecting Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
If you are outsourcing software development, you need to be extra careful and have robust documentation to protect your brand and its digital assets. Nothing is worse than the software development team selling your code and product to potential competitors after development. Not protecting your IP can lead to loss of revenue and goodwill. It is recommended to hire an IP attorney who is certified to protect Intellectual Property Rights for various countries. A robust IP agreement should be created to ensure all business licences, code and confidential information are handed back to the source company post-development.
Think Long Term
By avoiding these common pitfalls, you can ensure a better point of view in the software development arena and choose the right partner. Make sure you understand the complete software development life cycle and find partners or developers who are like-minded and understand your business goals. Your business will need constant support from the team to design, build, launch and maintain the software.
