Software Development Best Practices to Follow

When software development companies plan to design and create software solutions, there are a handful of practices they need to follow in order to improve the productivity of the organization and offer a solution that performs perfectly as per the end-user’s requirements. Some of the software development best practices like YAGNI, a principle that teaches the developers to follow proper style guides, and the DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principle that helps the experts to ensure that they don’t use the same code, again and again, are highly followed in today’s time. Such software engineering best practices ensure that the solutions developed by the experts are well-designed and coded to fulfill the client’s requirements.

But identifying such practices and finalizing which to follow for a particular type of project is a bit of a difficult task. Therefore, here in this blog, we will go through some of the widely used custom software development best practices that every company should follow in order to have better decision-making power and offer the best output to the clients.

1. Software Development Best Practices

Find out software project development best practices that will help you to shape a quality software development process and in the end, you will get the best software product. But before going through the best practices, let’s see what techies have to say on Quora about software development best practices and what this term actually means.

1.1 DRY principle

DRY means “Don’t repeat yourself”. It is a principle that was formulated by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas in the year 1999. As per this principle, everything a developer knows or every piece of knowledge he possesses must have a single and authoritative representation in the system he is creating. This means that the code designed by the code shouldn’t have repetitive logic.

As per this principle, the software development teams must avoid knowledge duplication which means that the business logic that they use in the code that consists of a certain functionality must not appear more than one time in the application. Though code duplication is acceptable, the main functionality of each module should differ. For instance, there is a net price of a service and a product that is calculated in the system, though the calculation function looks the same, the logic behind that calculation should differ in order to offer the perfect result.

The reason behind following this principle is that if duplication of knowledge takes place in the code, it can lead to mistakes.

1.2 YAGNI principle 

YAGNI means “You Ain’t Gonna Need It”. According to this principle, if the developer is not going to require a particular code at the moment but might need it in the future then such code shouldn’t be written in advance. The reason behind it is that the future that the developer has anticipated might or might not come which means that the developer will waste the time in writing the code that isn’t required. Besides this, in any case, the requirement of the software might change in the future and the code that was created anticipating the future might go to waste. 

Therefore, when software development teams are creating big functionalities for any software, planning the development process properly and splitting it up into smaller tasks is very important. It will help the team to release the urgent part of the software on time.

1.3 Create Roadmap

Whenever you start with your very first software development project, just ensure that you create a roadmap of the software development process and set strict guidelines and objectives accordingly. 

Before moving on! What is your modern procedure? Here there should be no ifs and buts. You see this is a professional space and having doubt or second thoughts could be pretty much dangerous. While developing your first custom software development project, you will come across several software development methodologies like waterfall development, agile development, and extreme programming which aid in creating a product that is right according to your needs.

1.4 Ask your Team to Conduct Testing

The next software engineering practice to consider is testing. And the reason behind testing being so important is clearly specified in the above Quora discussion. As soon as a software application is built, the most crucial stage in the entire development process is software testing. After all, there is no point in creating software full of bugs and errors. Code review and inspection of code quality are very essential factors. If you know what is testing, then we would say testing comes before your software is turned in for deployment. It is an essential part of our checklist on software development best practices.

Imagine putting loads of time and effort into a programming class project for weeks. But when submission day arrives, your program simply refuses to run. This is what happens and that’s why testing is extremely important. 

Another case is brilliantly explained by a developer on Quora, Take a look below.

Sometimes, we get so carried away writing the code that we forget to check whether or not it works properly. Other times, we may get a little complacent, thinking there’s nothing that could possibly go wrong. Actual projects hold much more value than mere school projects. There is a certain degree to which you can mess up; otherwise, you may end up losing an important client. Choose a company or software developer, which has a track record of minimum error. Discover problems before clients or end-users do.

1.5 Documentation is Everything

One of the most obvious reasons why documentation is a  best practice is because it makes you free from remembering things and you can check the documents directly. One of the most important functions of documentation is to serve as a complete handbook for users. It not only describes the features and functionalities of your product, but it also includes ways of troubleshooting advice in case users encounter a problem. It gives you more confidence and prevents you from wasting time during the development of software.

Another reason to document is that the entire process of producing software is dependent on its ability to evolve over time. Every program you use is constantly updated. What is the reason for this? Throughout the life of a software project, engineers are continuously looking for methods to improve how it operates. They sometimes repair bugs. Other times, they include a new feature in an older version of the software. All of this is documented so that it becomes feasible and also it makes apps adequately documented.

1.6 Distribute Your Project To Smaller Parts

It doesn’t matter even, it is a short-term project with simply a few essential features or a particularly large one with loads of multiple functions, you certainly can’t take it all in one go. You need to break the project into different stages and components. Assign the work separately between developers working on the same project.

 This will assist your development team to evade any uncertainty that they may encounter if they operate on all the modules together. Once your team is finished with every module and sure that they all run separately, you can start merging them into a whole project. 

1.7 Choose the Right Software Development Methodology

Most businesses have dreamt of how using the right methodology can bring faster and more effective outcomes. But when it comes to selecting, there are many methodologies and many ways to select one. Choosing the right software development methodology requires a clean alignment with your business agendas and goals. Choosing the best software development method is dependent on your individual requirements, client requests, specifications, and other essential deadlines. Here are some of the most useful SDLCs for software development. This plan also guarantees that your approaches are in line with the overall goals. Make it a point to convey the importance of each aspect within your project and justify which method suits you the best.

Choosing the right methodology depends on the SDLC cycle and its available options. Like you can choose from multiple methodologies that fall true as per the need. Let’s see some of the common types of Software development methodology. 

• Agile Methodology
• Waterfall Methodology
• Prototyping
• Iterative method
• V-shape
• Agile
• Scrum
• Kanban

1.7 Use Software Development Standards

You must ask your software development team to incorporate software development standards. Because getting an ISO certificate for your custom software development has various benefits.

As it enhances your projects, utilizing ISO standards have been shown to improve productivity and sustain high-quality working conditions. Therefore, presenting your accomplished projects better. The second is that it presents you with a worldwide presence. 

2. Conclusion

Now that we have reached the end of the list, we now know all the essential checklists for software development practices. This insightful blog is an actual checklist of best practices and if you are a business ready to start the development process, this one can be a guide for you. As a business that understands software development from the grassroots level, so we know the importance of the right methodology bringing the right difference. There are numerous advantages such as good coding traits, testing, documentation, and similar other standardized best practices. If you as a business start following some of these best practices, these are the best habits a software development firm could have.