In this new era, building software effectively and efficiently is more important than ever before. Companies need to achieve a more rapid return on investment and get new apps to market quickly. The engineers at Zartis have shared their top tips for making this happen.
1. Keep Things Agile
With an agile mindset, you should be taking an iterative approach to your software development. There is no point in trying to think of all the possible use cases and business scenarios for your software. Take an MVP approach, build something small with pace, and then get market feedback to guide you through further evolutions. You won’t know everything you will need, or the hierarchy of importance, when you start writing code. You need a solid foundation of basic functionality, and you can proceed from there with the right customer feedback.
2. Take the Right Shortcuts
There is a temptation for many engineers to build everything from the ground up, and from scratch. The reality is that a rich ecosystem exists of open source libraries and free/low cost components, which can be utilised to fast track product development. There is no point in reinventing the wheel when time to market is so critical, however modernizing legacy software and focusing on modern web app development will surely pay back in the long run.
3. Don’t Set the Hiring Bar to Perfection
As one of our Tech Leads told me recently – better to hire a good engineer now than the great engineer who never comes. Even in the era of Covid, with mass unemployment, high quality software engineers are still very difficult to hire. Other advice is to avoid discarding ‘old-fashioned’ engineers. There can be a streak of ageism in the tech world, and sometimes engineers are not considered because they are working in the ‘old way’ or with ‘old technologies’. A highly experienced engineer can be your greatest asset – they will often understand in a very deep way the different challenges that emerge from different technical choices, and may also have the capacity to remain calm when everything is on fire. New and shiny things are often what catch our eye, however, the value of experience shouldn’t be downplayed.
4. Social Skills in Your Team can be as Important as Technical Skills
The engineering leadership at Zartis looks very closely at attitude, mindset and social abilities when it comes to hiring decisions. We understand that the ability to work with others and create a true sense of team is more important than ever in this time of radical remote working. Humility is a key ingredient in high workplace performance, regardless of what you do. Genuinely humble people are in fact the most confident, as they do not need to be right about everything, or have their opinion followed in every matter. Effective software development requires high trust, intellectual flexibility and the capacity to compromise. Don’t fall into the trap of hiring a saviour/prophet/rockstar. Look for those with the right mindset, and the level of distraction that comes from fragile egos can be avoided.
In case you would like a free consultation on how to modernize your software development, reach out now!
