Improving System Development Productivity
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Improving System Development Productivity
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Improving System Development Productivity
System development productivity can be said to be the ratio of the value of software produced and the value of costs incurred while producing the software. In order to benefit and keep producing a company should make sure that the value of the software produced is always higher. There is a multitude of ways to do this. To begin with, the company should have a clear direction: the reason for this is that software development teams are usually large and lack of clarity of objectives could lead to different teams having distorted goals that could lead to failure of the product (Dos Santos et al., 2000). A clear goal has the advantage of keeping developers aligned and motivated.
In continuation, continuous communication and feedback between all parties involved in the production of the software product is key (Chiang et al., 2004). When there is smooth flow of communication, everybody is aware of the slightest changes in development and plans which then makes them move as a team. Since not everything works to plan, it is important that the team be able to adapt to any changes in the environment. This flexibility could be the difference between the success of the product and its failure.
For the productivity of a system to improve the team players should come together and agree to do a few things right (Storey, 2016). The first thing is that they should ensure that their communication channels are working correctly. Getting updated information and feedback on the system will keep the team working in synchronization and this will improve the chances of the product succeeding. Secondly, the team should agree on automating simple operations or those that do not require a high level of human intelligence (Tavoletti, 2019). In addition, automation saves costs by reducing the amount of workforce required and producing an increased amount than was actually produced manually.
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Various ways to improve system development productivity
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McKeen & Smith (2015) has listed the following ways to improve system development productivity.
Optimize the bigger picture:
System development is just a part of overall business development. Delivering the IT system requires different components to be worked on. It starts with an understanding of IT value proposition, strategic planning, roadmaps, good governance, and implementation (McKeen and Smith, 2015). To achieve the value for the business, there are several things to take care of. First, it should be ensured that IT and the business are working together to deliver the business value. Also, all the processes and operations of the business need to reassessed periodically so that the issues are addressed and opportunities utilized on time (McKeen & Smith, 2015).
There are different levels of resources and ideas, which are interrelated. So, to make productive development, all these activities need to be thought forward in a bigger picture. IT leaders need to focus on the goal of the project and carry out the planning with reducing cycle time and keeping the standards high.
Adopt more flexible processes
Agile methodologies have been practiced these days as a more flexible process, but still, there are companies that are sticking to waterfall methods. There are things like security and integration that companies hold on to because of their potential risk related nature. These have to be addressed in a certain way that stress to the system developers would lessen. There are many third-party tools that can be incorporated into the system, which will increase productivity with less burden. The flexible process also helps in decision making, which will expedite the improvement features on the system (Chan et al., 2012).
Overall the goal of this technique is to adopt a process that suits best for the business rather than just sticking to agile or waterfall methods. The purpose is to tailor the methods as per the requirement.
Reduce complexity
Complexity can be of any nature. It can comprise of the architecture, languages, or platforms that IT systems use. Several components can be reused in the system. Identifying those components and reusing them can reduce the defects. Also, getting rid of the unnecessary and lengthy work process will enhance productivity. The product features and repositories can be reused that save the complexities of maintaining a full feature that can excel in the productivity of the system (Liu et al. 2017).
Enhance success metrics
It is essential to track the success of the team or product, which can be done with the help of success metrics. The amount of achievement that the team accomplishes has to be reported throughout the system. IT leaders and managers need to work on getting the metrics for the understanding of the system from the business perception. There should be clear communication flowing through and need to track the quality of the product. Monitoring the performance will help to make the product better and fill any gaps as it gives the overall picture of the product (Pendelton et al. 2017).
Create a smarter development environment
Innovation is an essential part of developing productivity. However, to get that coming, there should be a smarter way of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and finding opportunities inside the team and must is between IT and business. They should maintain documentation on the use and requirements so that both IT and business are on top of the game. Companies can also aggregate the requests and bring to a more significant discussion so that there is a better understanding of the requests and probable handling solution. Making use of collaborative tools and smart searches are a few of the technologies that businesses can use to promote a smart development environment in the organization (McKeen & Smith, 2015).
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