Aug
Top challenges of Custom Software Development
Project Managers in top software development companies have to adjust to different challenges and even solve the different technological bottlenecks in order to keep pace with the ever-changing business ecosystem as well as customer expectations. Among them, there are various major pain points which are associated with custom software development when it comes to modernizing the existing IT infrastructure. Based on our research and experience, we are going to deeply analyze the most common problems which are faced in developing new custom software products.
It is not a big surprise that the entire globalization of software development industry has given rise to outsourcing as there are substantial cost benefits which are quite attractive to the businesses. Most of the successful companies are already developing their products by outsourcing. For them, the development of these software products is often met with skepticism since it duly faces different and increasingly difficult problems and challenges.
When it comes down to new product development, most of the companies often go for recommendations, but sometimes the overall software development skills and technical capabilities of the recommended custom software development company may not be in line with the short and long-term requirements of the project.
Hence, in such cases, the companies may end up in contracting with a company which is easier to find, and it may even commit to delivering which is beyond its capabilities. In case you wish to properly tackle these different challenges in software development, follow the below mentioned points.
1. Language Barrier
Full proficiency in English isn’t that hard to find. Even if the custom software development company that you hire needs to assure that their software development team will speak as well as write in good English. This isn’t in the case of a few companies as the people below the team leaders and managers aren’t that good at communicating in English.
The best way is to ensure that language isn’t going to be a major barrier in the communication. You need to talk directly to all the member involved in the software development by phone, email, and Skype.
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Few software developers, as well as project managers who have good English proficiency, often try to take advantage of the language barrier. In most cases, they often pretend that they didn’t understand your requirements in order to do the work in their own way.
2. Poor Communication
Communication isn’t a strong point for most of the developers, and most of them struggle when it comes down to team or teams of software developers. This is why you need to invest in a highly skilled and experienced Project Manager heavily. It will certainly reduce the overall cost as well as well the good communication of all the technical specs will certainly lower the entire development time and also reduce the project cost.
Whenever you can, ensure that you are using a Project Manager who has previously worked with the team that as experience in similar project.
Also, irregular or absence of process set up from the start of the project in order to enable regular communication is another major issue. In order to solve this particular issue, you need to make a clear process along with specific timeframes which are in place to ensure that weekly communication is done every step of the way. It is important to have a solid communication plan which is duly aligned with all the deliverables. You should never assume that all the development tasks are completely clear for everybody. Make sure that you provide plenty of details as well as visual examples.
3. Missing Delivery Deadlines
Overstating the capabilities of delivery is among the major issue with most of the custom software development project. Often, people make the blunder in estimates. Knowing this, the experience, as well as the ability to anticipate the issues along with a particular development roadmap, are the most vital things to look for in a project manager who is handling the development team. No matter whatever the development team or the project manager actually states, always add some extra days in terms of your expectations from the predefined deadline. Anything can happen especially when it comes to software development. Delivery deadlines need to be duly included in the entire project development plan which is agreed upon and also signed with the partner any of the custom software services.
4. Motivation of Employees
One of the most often ignored aspects is the motivation of the development team which can certainly interfere with the entire product development lifecycle. In case the software developers aren’t actually your employees, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t need morale boosting. It is always wise to duly ask the team leader about the entire work environment as well as satisfaction.
5. Multi-tasking by Developers on Different Projects
The most frequent issues faced by in-house project managers when it comes to outsourcing the custom software development is the inherent switching of resources which are employed in their own projects. Most of the developers often think that they can multitask between different projects which is quite inefficient. And you can never be sure that it isn’t going to happen as the developers are quite free to change their jobs at any time. One of the best approaches is to ask for a well-dedicated team. Even though it might seem expensive, but in the longer term, it will save a lot of money.
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The main reason to ask for dedicated developers is the Focus. Generally, people find it difficult to switch between tasks and projects. Even interruption in the task such as coding or customer service can certainly waste a lot of time. That is why you should hire a dedicated team which doesn’t get interrupted all the time. The best thing that you can essentially do is to have one-to-one talks with the developers on a fixed schedule.
6. Micromanagement
It is something which most of the people don’t like. And in case you have to do it, it will certainly cost you a significant amount of both money and time. The software developers need to be aware of the overall negative impact of micromanagement on the quality of the project. In order to successfully avoid this, ensure that you choose the right people especially the best team leader. Look beyond the proven track record and ability of high-quality projects and then search for real team management and leadership skills along with communication and technical skills when it comes to hiring one of the best custom software development services.
7. Quality Assurance and Technical Skills
Matching the requirements of the project with the inherent capabilities and abilities of the software development company is quite crucial. However, in order to do so, you need to get into the details. Make a clear, specific as well as detail oriented list of project requirement which is also called Documentation and it will certainly save a lot of time. When you are speaking Agile, ensure that the development company clearly explain how exactly they are going to do it and how will they eventually manage in order to be quite successful in the agile development and also emphasize on concrete results. Along with this, ask for their portfolio on the different similar project. Test it and then eventually decide on taking a specific custom software development company.
Good technical skills are among those things which you can’t actually test, and the testimonials may not be a huge help when it comes to consideration of custom development requirements. What you can actually do is to ask for the proven project track record on different similar projects and also look at the deadlines. Also, you can easily test the development team at the beginning using an independent HR company. Quality Assurance Costs need to be low, and it should be duly included in the entire project development phase.
Ensure that you ask about the actual percentage of QA time for the previously done projects similar to the one which you are looking to develop.
8. Project Management
It is actually developing custom software which is not quite an easy task, so ensure that you invest quite heavily in the highly skilled project manager. He needs to have good communication and technical skills along with previous work experience with a team of developers.
Conclusion
These above-mentioned challenges faced in custom software development can be duly tackled with well-executed planning and careful observation. Hire the best custom software development company which takes into account these vital aspects.
