Software Development Ideas To Optimize Processes Of SaaS Businesses

In the USA, the demand for SaaS products has skyrocketed, and software development firms find it challenging to meet this demand. The procedure clearly requires outstanding development skills, but project managers must also be very well-managed. Several people with varying areas of expertise must work together in real time to develop items that customers will find beneficial. Additionally, such initiatives need a significant time and financial commitment.

It’s challenging to keep a team together while ensuring consistency in production. Furthermore, this difficult chore might become even more difficult if it had be completed daily for weeks or months. When you combine time and financial limitations with unanticipated development setbacks, it’s clear why SaaS development may be a nightmare for administrators.

Most software development initiatives never succeed because of these obstacles. Actually, according to certain research, just 29% of software development initiatives end in success.

Thankfully, executives of software and SaaS companies may take some actions to guarantee that their projects proceed according to their plans. The next sections of this essay go over these stages and advice.

Let’s get started without any more delay.

1. Implement A Definitive Workflow

Due to the complexity of SaaS development processes, most jobs cannot be classified as “done” or “not done.” The majority of tasks that precede the creation of a final product involve several phases in which various team members contribute to the task’s completion.

The use of a process may significantly improve the timeliness of long-term development initiatives. Workflow may be simply defined as a predetermined sequence of actions that a team or organization conducts in order to finish a task. Working on a single type of project allows a team or firm to create a standard process that can be used for all of their projects. An outstanding illustration of this may be a web building firm that specializes in a certain sector, such as creating websites for advertising companies.

A single workflow can be used because most websites will have similar features and traits, ensuring that all projects are done without any problems and that the final websites are of a consistent quality.

In contrast, you might need to get in touch with US software development firms that provide bespoke software solutions in order to create a workflow for every project.

Whatever the situation, a workflow will make the development process more transparent. It will also make sure that no important actions are overlooked. For example, if it is intended to test every new feature once development is finished, this step can be included to the process so that all team members are aware of it.

It’s crucial to remember that most teams will need to experiment a little bit before they find a process that suits them. A process will, however, show its shortcomings if it is put into practice, and the insights gained may be used to improve output.

2. Embrace Outsourcing

An important trend in the software development industry is outsourcing. It may have gone from being a fad to an industry standard, though, because software development businesses in the USA and throughout the world have been using it for so long, and with good reason.

When done correctly, outsourcing may address a wide range of difficulties and issues related to the development process. Staffing problems and a lack of in-house knowledge are two anticipated improvements that outsourcing resolves.

Small SaaS development teams can create successful solutions using technology outside of their core competencies through outsourcing. Outsourcing may be advantageous for any development company, whether it is a SaaS provider or a bespoke software development firm in the United States. Project managers can further streamline the development process by easing the burden on the internal team. Process workflow automation allows large firms to become more cost-efficient while enabling small businesses to extend their operations with the assistance of outsourced partners. Not to mention, regardless of the size of the business, growing any workforce has clear time-related advantages.

That being said, things don’t always go as planned when projects or portions of them are outsourced. A poor outsourcing experience is typically the result of selecting the incorrect partner. Therefore, it is important to consider all relevant factors while evaluating outsourcing partners.

The obvious ones include:

• examining portfolios and evaluations,
• asking about the outsourcing company’s team’s experience and level of skill, and
• examining their finished work.

Additionally, it is a good idea to get recommendations from clients.

In addition to this, it is advised to request that the outsourcing partner send the professional profiles of each developer assigned to the project. To make sure these developers actually have the knowledge and experience needed to finish the project satisfactorily, the project manager should conduct interviews with each of them.

It’s crucial to keep in mind that software development is a profitable industry with a large number of new participants entering the market. Business executives may find that the only way to safeguard their interests while outsourcing to outside partners is to conduct extensive research.

3. Develop A DoD

A collection of criteria known as the “Definition of Done,” or DoD, establishes whether a work has been completed. It makes a lot of sense to adopt DoD since software development projects are multi-stage.

When defining software development “done,” it is advised to establish a set of criteria that a work must meet in order to be deemed completed. By doing this, the uncertainty in the development process will be reduced. It also makes sure that everyone in the team is always in agreement.

The importance of DoD is explained with the help of an example below:

Let’s say a project manager queries a developer about the feature’s level of development completion. The developer may respond “yes” if they have finished the feature’s main programming. Even when the core code is set, the element might not be prepared for the user to start. In essence, a work is not truly finished until the feature is prepared for release, even though a developer may believe that doing the core programming is sufficient to “finish” it.

A well defined DoD also lessens the amount of time that the development team and the quality analysis (QA) team must communicate back and forth. When quality analysts discover problems during the testing phase, for instance, they frequently revisit a finished assignment. Every team member should finish the assignment after receiving approval from the QA team in order to prevent this circumstance.

Implementing a comprehensive DoD might make it take longer to “complete” a work in the first place. Development teams can save additional time, nevertheless, by not revisiting a work that has already been finished due to unfulfilled requirements.

After a DoD has been established, it should be distributed to the team as a whole to make sure that everyone is aware of the pertinent regulations. It is recommended that the DoD regulations be communicated to the whole extended team, including external resources, if a team is collaborating with an outsourced partner that provides software development services.

4. Employing The Correct Tools

The same way that having the proper people on a development team is crucial, so is providing team members with the appropriate tools. This might include communication and work management tools in addition to the specific tools developers might require to do their real duties.

The majority of company executives are already aware of how crucial a reliable work management solution is. But it’s common to undervalue the significance of a reliable communication tool, which might be a very bad idea. Given the growing prevalence of dispersed teams in today’s circumstances, this is particularly true. For the development team to be cohesive and on the same page, a solid communication tool is essential. For teams collaborating with outside outsourcing partners, its significance is even more critical.

5. Automate As Much As Possible

Software development cannot be automated in the conventional meaning of the word. On the other hand, process automation allows you to simplify some parts of the workflow, relieving developers of some of their workload. For example, you may minimize the requirement for feature testing by using repeated scripts. This approach requires no active participation from the development or quality testing resources, although it does take some time to use. This allows developers of bespoke software to focus on new features.

It’s also a good idea to use testing with people rather than automated or manual testing when time permits. Development teams are able to swiftly launch a product and obtain comprehensive feedback thanks to this.

Using technologies for process automation is also a smart move. Manually carrying out repetitive operations may be eliminated with the help of solutions like Zapier. Additionally, this will assist development teams save up to an hour of productive time each day.

6. Progress Visualization

Visualizing progress can seem like a small detail. In actuality, though, it may significantly increase any development team’s output and effectiveness. Progress visualization may improve team morale in addition to providing a comprehensive picture of the project state. Additionally, it will assist in getting rid of redundant information and preventing misunderstandings among team members.

Another name for progress visualization is an information radiator. This work status visualization arrangement can assist managers in locating bottlenecks and taking proactive steps to remove them. Additionally, it will inform the project manager about the jobs that have been blocked, enabling them to delegate more effectively.

One significant advantage of progress visualization is that it will assist the team in identifying issues early on. Additionally, the information radiator is in a public location for everyone to see. This will encourage discussion about these issues, which might result in workable answers.

Making the correct tool choice is the most important part of using data visualization to streamline the SaaS development process. Ideally, the ideal instrument for the job is one that can capture and display data from several angles. It is also crucial that a tool permits the continuous and real-time presentation of data. Unfortunately, certain data visualization solutions (like Jira) lack these functionalities and could require extra APIs to do this.

Conclusion

Compared to SaaS development projects, optimizing them is less complicated. Good practices, such as a well defined process and DoD, may significantly improve productivity and project quality. Software executives also need to realize that outsourcing is no longer an option. Even a small software development business in the United States might benefit from having a huge staff on its side through outsourcing. Almost all small SaaS businesses that want to expand without reducing their equity must now outsource.

We believe that everybody who reads this book will find these suggestions helpful in maximizing their own development process.