There are many steps to successful software delivery. There are many methodologies, many languages, toolkits, components, plug-ins, API use cases and there are many best practices. Without assuming that we can (or could ever) form a definitive list of the key steps needed to always guarantee successful software delivery, Inside Analysis spoke to Alix Stuart, head of agile delivery at Amdaris to get her (if not top three, that at least front of mind three) key steps to consider.
Founded in the UK in 2009, Amdaris delivers innovative software development, product design, application support and consultancy services from its UK headquarters and Eastern Europe delivery centres in Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria.
Stuart points out that according to Ibis World, the size of the software industry is anticipated to have grown by 6.4% in 2022. Whether it’s in fact 5% or 10%, the drive for software application development (and of course delivery) is continuing to rise, meaning that companies must ensure their processes are efficient and effective. So then, what would Stuart classify as key tenets to embrace?
Delivery methodology for business
“Software delivery teams often choose delivery methodologies that work for them but rarely consider the overall business needs. By considering the entire organization’s needs as a whole, a delivery methodology can foster interdepartmental collaboration and communication, allow for rapid business change and ensure value is delivered in a meaningful way for all areas of a company and its users/customers,” noted Stuart.
She says that before determining which methodologies will work best, a business needs to first outline the business and product objectives. Second, it needs to establish what success looks like. Finally, it needs to understand what it is about the current method of software delivery that works well, and what doesn’t.
“With this information secured, it will be easier to consider which delivery method will work best. This could be SCRUM, SAFe, Nexus, another methodology not listed here, or the delivery method you’re currently using but with some changes to suit your organisation,” informed Stuart. “Once your chosen delivery methodology is in place, remember that making improvements to it is something that should happen iteratively to ensure continual learnings are implemented and continuous improvement is made.”
Designated product owners
Speaking from experience working with Amdaris customers, Stuart suggests that it’s impossible to see the complete picture of a jigsaw until all the pieces are in place. This is the same for each member of a delivery team. However, the role of a product lead or key decision-making stakeholder is often overlooked or underestimated.
“It’s essential to have a facilitator to own the product, whether this be a professional Product Owner or a key stakeholder with decision-making power. It needs to be someone who fully understands the users and the business and who can make informed decisions to drive the evolution of the product,” she said. “As a central figure, the facilitator can listen, rationalise, set and communicate clear expectations to all stakeholders and the delivery team. They’re able to communicate one product vision to the delivery team that better equips and empowers them to make suitable and smart suggestions on how to proceed with technical challenges.”
Her advice is simple – ultimately, they undertake the challenging role of ensuring that value (recognised by both the users and the business) is delivered, making the final call on the priority order of the features and deciding what can be removed or simplified to meet milestones.
Full transparency
Stuart insists that transparency is essential to ensure that all desired outcomes are met – and it should be achieved in many different ways. For her, these include the following:
- ** Sharing product project knowledge and documentation
- ** Scheduling regular demos of work complete
- ** Reporting on key success metrics
- ** Providing users/stakeholders with opportunities to provide feedback
- ** Giving feedback, whether positive or negative, back to the business
- ** Ensuring that there are opportunities set in time for open and honest dialogue
- ** Making time for key stakeholders to hear each other’s goals and vision for the product
“This transparency allows team members and stakeholders to reference the reasoning behind a specific decision later in the product’s lifecycle. It ensures that everyone is on the same page on a much more regular basis and that any changes or misinterpretations are addressed early enough to be resolved easily,” explained Stuart
Such transparency can also foster an appreciation for the work and effort required by different business departments to successfully deliver valuable software. Overall, it provides better alignment across your company and with your software partners.
The bottom line
“Software delivery isn’t a quick, one-off activity. It’s an ongoing journey that involves a range of different skills from across a business and beyond. If it doesn’t go to plan or isn’t thought through properly, businesses are unlikely to win the software delivery game,” concluded Amdaris’ Stuart
As we said at the start, although this discussion could (and perhaps, probably should) never attempt to lay down a definitive list for software application delivery best practice that we would cast in stone (iterative logic demands perpetual cumulative cadence, after all), this summary does bring to light (or at least remind us) of some of the most important steps developers should be thinking about as they hit the command line (oh yes okay, obviously the no-code low-code drag-and-drop visual interface too) on the road ahead.
About Adrian Bridgwater
Adrian Bridgwater is a freelance journalist and corporate content creation specialist focusing on cross platform software application development as well as all related aspects software engineering, project management and technology as a whole. Adrian is a regular writer and blogger with Computer Weekly and others covering the application development landscape to detail the movers, shakers and start-ups that make the industry the vibrant place that it is. His journalistic creed is to bring forward-thinking, impartial, technology editorial to a professional (and hobbyist) software audience around the world. His mission is to objectively inform, educate and challenge - and through this champion better coding capabilities and ultimately better software engineering.