Software development is a professional industry with standards and processes, and there is a far greater understanding now of what works and what doesn't, as well as where the pitfalls of software development are among organisations in SA.
"In many instances, businesses are at the mercy of their IT departments who often sweep issues under the carpet. Software development is not a mystery - it is a professional industry and business owners must make sure that processes are followed."
So says Brian Harding, CEO of Airborne Consulting, commenting on the results of the ITWeb Software Development Survey, which ran online for 14 days in October, attracting 186 responses.
When asked, on a scale of one to five, if their organisations' software development projects (either in-house or outsourced) were successful, 48.30% of respondents said yes, while 11.36% rated them as being on time and on budget with expected quality.
According to the survey, most (61.93%) organisations or their suppliers have an industry standard development process (SDLC, or software development life cycle) in place, while 21.59% do not, and 16.48% were unsure.
Harding adds: "Software development is a highly technical and specific discipline. Having an integrated process to follow that ensures proper integration, testing, code management, etc, is a key success factor of any project. Of course, no process is a silver bullet, but following a proven SDLC does make things a lot more manageable and easier."
The survey also discovered that the biggest cause of software development project failure is unclear specifications (41.48%), followed by lack of business buy-in (12.5%), unrealistic expectations (10.73%) and technical issues (10.17%).
Harding explains: "Part of the reason for this is that, very often, clients legitimately do not know exactly what they want. Software developers are hesitant to start developing unless they have a very clearly signed-off specification, and most times the devil is in the detail. This conflict has led to the advent of agile processes and methodologies, which allow for some flexibility in the approach so that clients can make changes as work is being developed."
The survey also determined that the average length of time spent on software development projects ranged from six to 12 months (39.55%), to four to six months (26.87%), to 12 months (19.40%).
It also emerged that 57% of respondents thought there is sufficient return on investment (ROI) when developing software, while 41.52% said this was the case some of the time, and 0.58% said this was never the case.
"Companies can improve their ROI on software development by improving on their processes, skills and project communication. There is no reason why a software project should not be successful if it is tackled by the professionals in the correct way. We have proven this time and time again; projects should not fail and it is not a great mystery as to why they do fail," says Harding.
It is preferable that organisations adopt a test-driven approach to software development, advises Harding. Ensuring proper code coverage and adequate testing is a significant success factor of any project. Problems solved upfront will ensure greater ROI from the whole development.
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