Is Modern Software Development More Difficult?
The longer we do something, the faster and easier we should be able to get it done, right? At least, that’s the case in most fields. The more you write, the easier it should be for you to string together sentences and intelligently make the points you want to make. Practice makes perfect.
Software is similar, but it’s important to point out that as we’ve introduced new methodologies over the years—like agile—the software development process might have actually gotten more complicated.
Why? According to Sven Peters, the lead evangelist for Atlassian, the inclusion of additional team members throughout the process has made the flow of development a bit more difficult than it has been in the past. Sure, software quality might be at an all-time high, but the journey there has a few more twists and turns.
“Keeping everyone in sync has always been challenging, but it's gotten increasingly more complicated over the years as more people have been added to the process,” Peters explains to StickyMinds. “For example, because software is now used by nearly everyone, UI/UX plays a much bigger role. That requires more designers. Additionally, software now runs on servers and users expect updates frequently. That requires software development teams to work more closely with IT and operations teams, support, marketing, and many more.”
More than ever, software is an extremely collaborative industry. Multiple teams of people who might be stationed at different locations around the world and function in different time zones are trying to put together a single application, so a common language (technical or otherwise) and common work flow needs to be established to keep everyone together.
More global teams have their challenges, but that shouldn’t stop us from expanding our geographical reach. When it comes to building software with people around the world, Peters encourages more than just chat platforms to help bring everyone together.
By constantly sharing work progress, meeting in person whenever possible, having feature buddies on the remote teams, and doing demos of the app at its current state with the entire team, you can help stay in sync.
We’re delivering quality code faster than ever, and that means that we’re including more people at almost every step of the process. Because of that, keeping a team locked in and working to its fullest potential might be as difficult as it’s ever been, but with the proper tools and mindset, the increased difficulty will lead to a better, more successful ending.
