5 Best Practices for Software Development and Testing

The software development process may have become cheaper and easier over the years, but it’s still a mammoth undertaking that can cause many problems if it goes awry somehow. You need to put effort into ensuring that it is done optimally; that you do not start the process if you do not know where it is going and how you intend to conclude it.

Handled poorly, a software development project can take longer than anticipated, cost more than was intended, and produce nothing usable whatsoever. Handling it well is about more than just making it through to a decent prototype before relaxing. Good development must be paired with good testing or the result will never meet (let alone exceed) your expectations.

To handle the process with aplomb; then you need to know the best way in which to approach it. To guide you along your way, we are going to look at five practices that are utterly essential to make the most of your software development and testing efforts. Let us get underway.

1.?Choose a strong ALM platform

Before you even begin the development process, you should put some real thought into picking an Application Lifecycle Management i.e. ALM platform (Kovair ALM Platform, for instance). ALM provides a framework to support the growth of an application. The result is a major improvement in overall efficiency and productivity. It is also great for collaboration, something that is generally more challenging for remote workers (very common at the moment)

Having a software development plan (more on that later) is strongly recommended, but you can have a great plan and still veer off course. Operating within an ALM platform ensures that you do not have the opportunity to do that. This makes it?enormously?less likely that you will go through the process and somehow end up with something that does not fulfill your requirements.

2.?Take an API-first approach

Sooner or later, every piece of modern software needs an API. We have all become accustomed to two things in particular; cloud processing that is powerful and near-infinitely scalable and integrations that allow us to use various distinct tools in tandem. Whether you intend to use the software exclusively internally?or?make it available to others, it will need an API to define how it can be accessed from other pieces of software.

Look at any part of the business world and you will see this being the case. Drop shippers rely on stock integrations for selling on third-party marketplaces. Businesses of all kinds use automation tools like Zapier to get things done. If you do not have an integration there, you will be left out. Sites with user accounts rely on social logins to make it more convenient for people to join their ranks... Learn more important practices