Main Goal
Whether you are a software team, or an individual developer, striving for optimisation and improvement should be your major focus. Some disregard the importance of well structure and efficient workflow. It leads to delays of product launch, misunderstandings during the development stage, and artificially prolonged debugging phase of applications.
By understanding the importance of optimisation, and by opening your mind to some of the tips we will provide today, you have a chance to gain a true competitive advantage over your rivals. The efficiency of workflow, just like a great idea, management, or perfect marketing, can make or break the success of your business.
Signs of Lack of Optimisation
Do you, as a team, sometimes need to hold additional meetings to clear out confusions regarding the product? Or alternatively, do you need to spend extra hours, as a sole developer, trying to integrate a particular feature, and you just seem to not be able to get it to work?
If it sounds familiar, then chances are you experience some sort of lack of optimisation within your workflow. It may not even be as evident as clear misunderstandings or confusions. It can be the hidden tiny delays throughout the entire development process. Problem is, these delays add up, and result in sufficient total product launch delays, which creates extra pressure in other sectors.
Simply put, letting your workflow get out of hand and lose any sign of optimisation, may lead to drastic consequences and results. Most importantly, it can happen even before any product was brought to market.
The Three Pillars of Optimisation
We want to make the tips as simple as possible, therefore, we summarize all the crucial aspects under three pillars: Delegation, Communication, and Patience.
Delegation
As developers, we often tend to be too desperate to act independently in hopes of “shining in the moment.” What does that mean? We will spend days and weeks working to develop a particular feature, which has been done before. Here, it all can be summarised with a simple saying: “Do not reinvent the wheel.”
If the feature was already realised before, and even, there are service providers who are primarily focusing on allowing you to integrate that feature (for example, like SiComponents), seriously considering outsourcing it, and integrating someone else’s solution. Some might say that outsourcing is a costly option. It appears to be so, on the first glance, however, the opportunity costs need to be considered. Especially if you are leading a team/company, all those extra hours spent by your developers working on “reinventing the wheel” add up in billable hours. Moreover, any delays caused by more time spent in development, means the product will not be on the market for longer, which leads to not having cash inflows sooner.
Therefore, always consider delegating parts of your development, however, there is no “one fits all” solution. Each individual situation needs to be judged accordingly, we are just suggesting to not shut off completely the outsourcing option.
Communication
Even though communication is the most obvious factor, it is still sometimes the most disregarded one.
Do not assume that everyone understands what you mean, simply because you understand what you mean. Regardless of how ridiculous the previous sentence sounds, unfortunately, it is applicable more often than not.
A general rule of thumb is when explaining what you are expecting or have in mind to someone, explain it in terms as if the other person has zero idea of what you are talking about. Sometimes, small changes like avoiding omission, going into extra detail, and being more exact with your directions, can be a complete game-changer!
Efficient and clear communication within a team not only improves the efficiency of the workflow, but also the overall morale of the group, which is sure to pay its dividends in the long term.
Patience
Last, but not least is patience. Patience is a crucial factor in a variety of fields, but it is also just as important in development.
Surprisingly, it is even more applicable to individual developers. Do not rush to complete large chunks of code in one go. Much rather slowly work your way through, by gradually deploying the features and debugging them straight away. It is a very sensible path to take. You will avoid technical confusions and issues later down the road. Slowly developing and debugging your application step-by-step not only allows you to ensure the soundness of each feature, but also makes any project less intimidating. Always keep in mind that even the most advanced applications can be broken down into smaller tasks.
When working in a team, it is also important to have patience for others to finish their respective work. Do not set standards for all team members based on your own development speed or experience. Find a golden middle between being demanding, and pressuring developers to complete their tasks as soon as possible.
Big Picture
Sometimes, it may not be clear how exactly the three pillars lead to a better optimisation. That is the beauty of it. By focusing on improving upon each of the pillars, you will drive the needed daily changes. In long term, it will ensure you of the optimised workflow in your development. After all, the foundation of being on top of your competition is having a durable long term advantage. Having an optimised and efficient development environment, is most certainly that.
We hope you enjoyed today’s blog post, learning about how to optimise the workflow of app development. If you have not already, make sure to check out our other posts. Follow us on LinkedIn to make sure to not miss out on any new content and updates!
