Today’s IT leaders, project managers, and software development leaders must prioritize avoiding technical debt.
Tech debt has far-reaching negative impacts. Software development that uses subpar approaches for speed or other reasons leaves applications difficult to maintain, vulnerable to security breaches, and difficult for employees to use. To avoid technical debt, leaders can adopt key best practices at every stage of the software development process.
Before the project begins
Project expectations are a cornerstone for successful software development. The goal is to prevent the creation of technical debt by taking action early in the project.
Validate architecture
Senior team members should be present at the start of the project invest Time invested in the overall architecture of the application and new features at scale. Addressing these items early in the project will ensure that the team can implement the project requirements as planned and will help the team sustain the application for further releases.
Create project requirements
The requirements document should explain what the application should do and list each application feature. The document should be detailed enough so that everyone involved in the application development process understands the expectations. Project participants include software developers, test teams and documentation specialists.
Other project documents that the software development team may create include design documents that provide detailed information about how to create and use a specific feature.
Implement coding standards
The project should include coding standards that the software development team must follow. Creating code standards ensures code consistency across the application and simplifies the transition when team members start working on another part of the project.
The software development team should also ensure that there is a process in place to confirm that the team is adhering to coding standards, especially with new members.
Build a test automation framework
Developers should have access to the test automation framework that the team will use to house and run automated tests. The framework should include instructions regarding expectations, how to use the framework, and applicable standards and processes.
Software developers should create automated test scripts from the start that run throughout development. Continuously executing these test scripts identifies code changes that affect completed functionality and prevents future problems.
During the implementation of the project
As application development progresses, the software development team must continue to pay attention to technical debt. Some tasks involve implementing previously planned initiatives.
Run automated tests
Automated testing is the process of using technology to test a new application. These tests are faster than manual tests and provide a level of coverage that one person cannot provide. The software development team should regularly run test scripts to ensure that new code does not break existing functionality.
When a test fails, developers can decide whether the new code needs to be fixed or whether they should update the test based on new features.
Perform code reviews
Code reviews involve a member of the team reviewing someone else’s code. They are especially important early in the development process to confirm that developers are following the project’s coding standards. The number of reviews may decrease over time as developers demonstrate that they are producing good code.
Code reviews may continue for developers who do not adhere to standards and for complex features.
Review the feature development process
Confirming that the software development team is following the feature development process can reduce unexpected technical debt.
For example, writing the design document before writing the code ensures that a software developer understands a software feature and receives feedback from product managers and project leads before creating the code. Requiring that design documents be written and reviewed before code is written helps prevent errors later in the process.
Other parts of the feature development process that the software development team must follow may include developing automated tests, updating documentation, and closing open bugs before marking a feature as complete.
Assign tasks accordingly Skill level
Team members’ tasks should be based on their skills and experience. For example, senior employees should take on more complex tasks.
When a junior developer is involved in a complex task, code reviews can evaluate their work, and advanced developers can learn new skills by reviewing junior developers’ code.
After the project goes live
After developing the application, the software development team may need to pay off accumulated technical debt. Here are some tasks team members may need to complete.
Perform a refactoring
Refactoring is about fixing code to fix known problems. The goal is not to change software features, but to improve the code to make it more reliable and easier to upgrade in the future.
The software development team should take some time for this important step. Code that is poorly written but still works often remains unchanged until a critical problem forces a change. This reactive approach results in technical debt remaining in the product.
Check the defects
While complete freedom from bugs would be ideal, eliminating all application problems is typically not possible without significantly delaying release. Towards the end of the project, the software development team typically only fixes critical issues and waits to fix the rest until a future update or release. After the application is delivered, project managers should schedule time to review any remaining defects and determine the priority of each defect, the impact on customers, and the time required to resolve them.
When the software development team creates a project plan for the next software release, team members should allocate time to address issues from the previous release.
Complete documentation
After application release, team members should take time to complete their documentation and properly store all project documentation in the project repository.
Ensuring that documentation is accurate and accessible going forward will help with future software releases.
Eric St-Jean is an independent consultant with a particular focus on HR technology, project management, and Microsoft Excel training and automation. He writes about numerous areas of business and technology.