How do you evaluate and improve system development?

1 Define evaluation criteria

Before you can evaluate and improve system development, you need to define what you want to measure and how you will measure it. Evaluation criteria are the standards or indicators that you use to assess the performance, quality, or value of system development. They can be based on different factors, such as functionality, usability, reliability, security, efficiency, maintainability, or customer satisfaction. You can use various sources to define evaluation criteria, such as user feedback, stakeholder requirements, industry best practices, or project goals and objectives.

2 Collect and analyze data

Once you have defined your evaluation criteria, you need to collect and analyze data that can help you measure them. Data collection and analysis are the processes of gathering and interpreting information that can provide insights into system development. You can use different methods and tools to collect and analyze data, such as surveys, interviews, observations, tests, reviews, audits, logs, or metrics. You should choose the methods and tools that are appropriate for your evaluation criteria, your system development context, and your available resources.

3 Identify strengths and weaknesses

After you have collected and analyzed data, you need to identify the strengths and weaknesses of system development. Strengths are the aspects or features of system development that meet or exceed your evaluation criteria, while weaknesses are the aspects or features of system development that fall short of your evaluation criteria. You can use different techniques to identify strengths and weaknesses, such as SWOT analysis, gap analysis, root cause analysis, or benchmarking. You should prioritize the strengths and weaknesses that have the most impact on your system development outcomes.

4 Implement improvement actions

Once you have identified the strengths and weaknesses of system development, you need to implement improvement actions that can enhance the strengths and address the weaknesses. Improvement actions are the steps or changes that you make to system development to increase its performance, quality, or value. You can use different approaches to implement improvement actions, such as agile, lean, or DevOps. You should align your improvement actions with your evaluation criteria, your system development goals, and your stakeholder expectations.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?