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You can start development without the details Problem When government regulations have to be implemented, the details could be not known upfront and this blocks the development. Solution Just use Clean Architecture and postpone decisions as long as possible. Benefit You will be able to start development right away and implement storage and UI when… Read More »10 Software Mistakes – 8 – Make decisions too early

Keep the bus factor small Problem Your developers are not your business experts, but they should be. They are writing code to run the business. Solution Just use Event Storming to share knowledge inside the company. Benefit You will be amazed how fast developers can get in-depth knowledge of the business domain. You will save… Read More »10 Software Mistakes – 7 – Avoid knowledge siloes

You are not Amazon and probably don’t need microservices Problem When new requirements have to be implemented, you waste time on redesigning the application with the wrong architecture. If you use microservices because of hype then you are doomed. Solution Just use the modular monolith architecture. Benefit You could redesign the code faster without worrying… Read More »10 Software Mistakes – 6 – Avoid microservices

People do more mistakes working at night Problem When a new feature has to start working on a given day, you have to pay for night duties to deploy it after working hours. Solution Just use Feature Toggles and enable them on specific time automatically. Benefit You could deploy disabled code at any time and enable it at… Read More »10 software mistakes – 5 avoid overnight deployments

Feature branches make developers take days to merge to main branch Problem When developing a long-lasting project in feature branches, merging into the main application could take a day or two to resolve all conflicts. Solution Just use Continuous Integration and merge daily to the main branch. Benefit You will resolve smaller conflicts easier and faster and the new… Read More »10 software mistakes – 4 avoid feature branches

Monthly reports take month to build Problem When doing time sensitive UAT testing it could take weeks to test some features. Solution Just use time travel testing and control application time. Benefit You will be able to test monthly reports on UAT in minutes instead of weeks.

Manual testing takes time and is a risk of human errors Problem When doing manual testing, it takes a long time and one could make a mistake or forget about something Solution. Just use Test Driven Development or Test First with a full suite of automated tests. Benefit You will be sure that the application works… Read More »10 software mistakes – 2 manual testing

Manual deployment process is a risk of human errors Problem When doing manual deployment, it takes time and could introduce accidental errors. Solution Set up the Continuous Deployment pipelines upfront, with the very first release. Benefit You will automatically and safely deploy the application in minutes.

By working for 15+ years for different clients I found that there are common mistakes in the design of the software and the development process that could slow down implementation of new features. This is especially visible in the areas regulated by the government, where the time pressure is big and requirements are not so clear.… Read More »10 software mistakes that slow down implementation of government regulations