Accelerating Growth with Software Product Development Services

While no standard product development timeline can be universally applied, there are proven ways to accelerate the product development journey. A software product development company can leverage its expertise, cutting-edge technologies, and agile methodologies to expedite the process and deliver innovative solutions promptly.

In this article, we will explore the whys and hows of accelerating software product development.

Why Accelerate Software Development? 

In our current times, technological advancement moves fast, and no businesses want to be left behind in the race for adoption. Think of how Google reacted to the launch of ChatGPT, the text-based generative AI developed by OpenAI. Fearing the decline of its search engine usage as ChatGPT users surged to tens of millions a few weeks after release, Google declared "code red" among its employees and "abruptly" announced its own generative AI, Bard, two months later.

In the face of such competition, every business recognizes the importance of incumbency advantage. For software development, speed is of the essence to meet customer expectations, capture market share, and respond to emerging trends. 

Fortunately, the industry thrives on tools, methodologies, processes, and collaborative expertise, allowing businesses to speed up the Time to Market (TTM) and keep up with scalability needs and challenges. The software market empowers development teams to perfect their workflows and deliver digital products faster, from powerful development tools and frameworks to agile methodologies, cloud services, and continuous delivery practices.

5 Ways to Accelerate Software Product Development 

Striving for a quick Time to Market (TTM) is natural. But how can businesses adopt best practices to ensure speed doesn't come at the expense of quality, safety, or performance? Here are some popular methods to always pay attention to.

1. Agile Development Methodologies: The better the development team can adapt agile methodologies to their project and workflow, the more it can speed up the process without compromising quality. Throughout the development time, there should be an emphasis on using agile methodologies not only as a development approach but also as a transformative thought process. For example, the team must understand that requirements may evolve, and new insights might emerge even after the project has been completed. Instead of resisting change, the team adapts quickly and incorporates feedback into their work.

2. Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD): To accelerate the development process, developers must have a ready-to-use CI/CD platform for integrating, testing and deploying code changes precisely and quickly. Platforms such as CircleCI, Gitlab CI, GitHub Actions offer an automated pipeline that simplifies the entire software delivery process. 

These platforms enable teams to maintain code quality, identify bugs early, and deliver new features rapidly, empowering them to iterate and improve continuously. With a reliable CI/CD setup, developers can focus on innovation and efficiently deliver high-quality software to meet the demands of today's fast-paced and dynamic technological landscape.  

3. Code Reviews: Code defects are best identified . before customers notice them. Checking and fixing bugs, edge cases, or logic errors should be continuous and strategic. According to Google's guidelines on code review, the overall design of the Change List (CL) is the most important area to consider. Asking the following question according to the guideline can help improve the impacts of code review.

• Do the interactions of various pieces of code in the CL make sense?
• Does this change belong in your codebase, or a library?
• Does it integrate well with the rest of your system? 
• Is now a good time to add this functionality?

Generally, code reviews promote knowledge sharing and collaboration within the development team. With it, team members can learn from each other, exchange valuable insights, and raise the overall skill level.

4. Clear Communication: With many hands involved in the development process, effective communication becomes paramount. Timely and transparent exchange of information regarding the latest developments, code changes, project milestones and challenges brings team members on the same page. It does not only reduce the risk of misalignment but also creates a collaborative and cohesive work environment.

Little wonder productivity tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace are updated with new features that provide a unified space for meeting, file sharing and task management. These are great tools for team members to actively participate, share their views, and contribute their valuable expertise.

5. User-Centric Design (UCD): When some researchers recognised the loopholes in the agile methodology, they proposed using a discovery-oriented approach such as User-centred design (UCD) to cover for the shortcomings. UCD is a design approach that follows an iterative process. Implementing it means emphasising the users and their needs throughout each stage of the design process.

Why do you think most people spend long hours on social media without wanting to do so? Not a straight answer, of course. But we understand that the development of this digital product has User-Centric Design (UCD) at its core. Depending on the project's scope, UCD may require establishing design teams that include psychologists, software engineers, UI/UX designers, and digital marketers. Each team member will recognise the importance of understanding users' needs throughout the iterative design process.

Summary 

The bare minimum for accelerating growth with software development has been listed here;  implement agile practices, CI/CD pipelines, regular code reviews, effective communication, and a user-centric design focus. That said, continuously innovating and adapting to the latest trends, such as AI, is needed to achieve long-term success in software product development.