This article will discuss a guide to improving the quality of software development. Starting from understanding what software development is, what types of software development are, planning a software development project, to how to collaborate with a vendor.
Why is this guide so crucial to you? Know that a failure factor in the software development process is not following the needs of consumers. So how do you get quality software development? Let’s dive into the article.
What Is Software Development?
Software development refers to further improvement of old software to new software or creating software from scratch step by step in the development phase. A goal is to improve the user experience that makes the tool easy to use for them. Besides that, this activity can make a new breakthrough in some way.
Take the example TikTok platform is a new feature for social media. Caused he can give insight into how consumers can interact actively with video content. How videos live, it can boom this year, how FYP (For Your Page) content is more personalized than other social media platforms. It proves that through features, TikTok can make a new trend on other social media platforms.
How to make your improvement successful like TikTok? Understand the software development types to know which parts need improvement and which don’t need to be prioritized.
What Are the 7 types of Software Development?
1. Frontend development
This type focuses on the front of a web or app. The front screen first appears when a user accesses it. The activities carried out usually improve user flow. This flow can include navigational flow when the user is looking for information on the website and the flow between pages that must be integrated with each other so as not to confuse the user.
You can identify this by:
- Explore tools in Google Analytics
- Third-party website tracker
- Heatmap
The above tools can help you understand user behavior on the website. In addition, it can also serve to perform A/B tests of new pages. In this activity, you can take a look at what services are offered for web development.
2. Backend development
In this process, it is necessary to involve a reliable backend developer in your project. The activities carried out include the flow of the website and application databases. Starting from the data input stage, filling out the form, and displaying the data after the filling process. Usually, the features added to this activity are registration, login, invoice, and form.
Why is this improvement significant to consider? Because your user database is an important document that must be clear and detailed. So need to do this optimization because the input process is not complicated and easy for users to process.
3. Full-stack development
This activity is a combination of the backend and front end. This activity will be beneficial in reducing operational costs by utilizing sources as much as possible. For example, if you need a proficient developer to take care of the front and back of the website, a full-stack developer is the answer.
That way, you don’t have to think about more specific aspects requiring every line of work. However, when an improvement involves the front and back of this website, you must cooperate with an outsourcing company that provides developers. Because you will rarely find a full-stack developer.
4. Application development
This activity usually occurs frequently in the improvement of the user experience. The aim is to how users can understand the flow of the application. At least there is no confusion when used. Often like navigation, buttons in mobile apps don’t work or redirect to blank pages.
This needs to be understood by the business owner. When a page is not ready to be launched, it should not appear before there is content on the page. Of course, if it appears, it will interfere with the user experience when using the application.
In this activity, there needs to be a mobile developer. Is it possible for mobile developers to develop applications on Android and iOS? Depends. In choosing a developer, of course, it is necessary to decide whether the application is intended for Android or iOS users. Even though the programming language used can be used on cross platforms at once, namely Flutter.
5. API development
The previous activity analyzes features that don’t exist yet or are already fixed. The API development process, it is more about how the addition of these features can be integrated and installed correctly on the web or app.
This API is like a bridge when a web or app wants to add external sources or features. You need to know the importance of this API to regulate the functions of existing features on a website to work well so that it does not cause excessive errors.
6. Mobile development
If your business needs to go through an app, this section is for you. This activity is one of the routines of mobile developers. Every time you definitely find application updates through the Google Playstore and often complain about them.
If you have just had an application for your business, you should communicate it with those who often deal with this. Because finding a mobile developer is not easy and becoming a problem in software development even mentioned in the list, is that the number 1 problem lies in hiring talent. Consult your application with a trusted mobile development agency locally or abroad.
7. Security software development
The last thing is crucial for improvement. Especially if your business involves a lot of user data. Of course, if the data is leaked, it will clearly violate the user’s privacy rights.
There are many cases in Indonesia itself, such as Tokopedia. Unexpected events experienced by Tokopedia due to negligence on application security. You obviously need to take care of this security, so users will feel safe registering with the application.
This activity usually fixes the back of websites or apps so that they are not hacked by hackers or irresponsible people.
How to Plan a Powerful Software Development Project
If you have found which parts need to improve, how do you plan a software development project to be of high quality? Here are the 5 ultimate steps you need to know before executing the project.
- Set Goals of the Project
- Define skills and scale of the project
- Plan budgeting for the project
- Build a Structured team (If a few in-house teams are available)
- Note the progress and quality
6 Stages in Makes Quality of Software Development
Have you planned your project well but don’t know what the next step is? Understand the s so that the activities carried out are of quality and produce successful outputs in the market. There are 6 stages that you need to go through and use in development activities. Here is the list:
- Planning in which direction for the improvement.
- Analyzing the desired product market.
- Making product designs for users.
- Implementing the designs that have been made.
- Testing and integrating before mass launching.
- After launching, maintenance is carried out if some errors or bugs interfere with the software user.
Types of Software Development Services
But if your in-house team doesn’t have enough resources to execute this project, how do I find dedicated team members? Calm down. For this section, there are 3 types of software development services that you can choose from.
- Onshore software development is a dedicated team you can find in the same area as you, be it a time or geographical location.
- Offshore software development is a dedicated software team that you can find outside your head office’s area or geographic location.
- Nearshore software development is a dedicated software development team that you can find in the nearest country or geographic location closest to your head office.
How Do I Get a Software Development Agency Expert?
After knowing the type of service, then How to pick the right partner? Here are 7 ways to get the right partner.
- Define your expectation and needs (decide want nearshore, offshore or onshore)
- Check with reviews on the clutch.co, google, and Goodfirms
- Look up the company’s experience in handling projects – check the portfolio.
- See what technology they use – usually, some companies are only experts in one technology.
- Give a question about your problem and look at their response – to make sure that the company has the potential to organize the project.
- Pay attention to understanding your business needs.
- Make sure the company will protect your intellectual property and user data.
3 Successful Companies Were Built Using Outsourced Developers
Has any company started by recruiting outsourced developers and succeeded? Here are 3 successful companies after they collaborated with dedicated team members.
Slack
In determining the initial strategy, Slack chose to recruit offshore companies. Clear proof of the role of outsourcing companies in the early stage of developing software is an essential step for Slack to produce profitable products for it.
Starting from just a prototype, with the support of an offshore company, it eventually became an important component that was perfected to be launched to the market. Without offshore companies, would Slack become the unicorn company it is today? Not necessarily.
Before WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook, they had previously recruited dedicated teams in Eastern Europe. The result of this recruitment is certainly not a joke. After that, the result is WhatsApp immediately skyrocketed to the top ranking of Google Play, App Store, and other platforms.
Google’s outsourcing journey started in 2011. In these conditions, Google recruits outside their territory or offshore outsourcing. Because their in-house team members lack an expert. In addition, by hiring offshore, Google can reduce the company’s operational costs.
The development carried out by Google at that time was the addition of a service line, namely Google Advertising Service. With the initial stages carried out by Google, their service line on Google Advertising is still issuing high revenues with over 116.3 billion dollars.
So, What is the Most Popular Guide for Software Development Today?
The bottom line, there are 2 ways to develop software. The first way is if you have an in-house team, you can definitely follow the 6 stages in making quality software development. The second way is that if the in-house team lacks expertise, you can try to follow how to cooperate with a software development company to get a high skills developer. Tell us the result after you follow our guide.
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