There are few fields as fast moving as software design and development. If this is the field in which you work, there are few development habits that could prove more detrimental than getting stuck in your own ways.
The technology landscape is continually evolving, as are the expectations of the customers, and if you’re not able to stay agile and to keep up with it, then you could be left behind with so many ventures that eventually fell off. Here are a few of the ways to make sure that your software development or design company is keeping up.
Keep up with customer problems
As technology improves as some revolutions become a lot easier to take for granted, it can result in a switch in customer priorities. Suddenly, customers may find that they don’t have the problems they used to, but instead have new ones. Design thinking is a philosophy that keeps customer problems and barriers at the forefront of your thinking.
It makes sure that you’re always iterating on your products, solving not just the problems that they were introduced to solve, but the problems that your customers and customers have when they use those products, as well. Basically, you always have to keep the customer’s perspective in mind, and be willing to receive and act on feedback.
Make coding more efficient
The process of coding has been greatly simplified for a lot of developers, but failing to make use of the tools that can enable for it can result in a lot more operational drag for your team. Nowadays, low-code development programs have become a lot more widely used.
This is especially true for those teams that need to be able to build application after application, and already have the insight on how to build the apps that their target market needs, but have to be able to keep up with that demand. Of course, low-code development does offer some limitations in terms of the range of expressiveness and ability to innovate, but as the technology becomes only more sophisticated, these drawbacks are likely to become smaller.
Recognizing widely-used formats
Getting stuck in your ways with the formats that you work with can be a great danger to your business, as those formats may not prove to be the standard that users and the industry end up implementing on a much wider basis. For instance, when it comes to PDF viewing, some developers made the switch from iFrame to Web Component for precisely that reason.
As one format became native to the browsing tools used today, and became known as the standardized method, trying to operate with the other format would prove more and more unwieldy, not to mention unfamiliar to the user base, as time goes on.
The need for customized user experiences
Not every user is going to be the same and thus, you have to ensure that you’re able to create solutions that can speak to the needs of those different users.
For instance, this can mean developing your software tools to work on different operating systems. Incorporating responsive design is another example of the customized user experience, making sure that your tools work effectively regardless of the platform that they’re being used on.
Artificial intelligence integration may end up being the true solution to the need for customized user experiences, able to adapt content and in-software workflows to best suit the needs of the user, but we’re not likely to see that in its true form for years to come.
Taking to the Cloud
One of the other major recent technology changes making ripples across software of all kinds is the introduced and wide-spread adoption of the cloud. A lot more developers are starting to work with cloud-native architecture, basically ensuring that your software is able to take advantage of the benefits offered by the cloud, such as its scalability and ability to shift to meet user demands.
There are some software platforms and applications that might not have much applicability when it comes to the Cloud, but Cloud-native architecture can still offer strengths such as making software easier to deploy, easier to use within existing Cloud environments, and improving their resilience through frequent on-cloud updates.
If you’re not able to keep up with the changes to the industry and the trends driving client wants, then you need to work with those who can.
