Another deadline is around the corner. Finding the source of bugs makes you pull your hair and your manager is bugging you with absolutely irrelevant problems? Take the hassle out of the mobile app development process and enjoy the development process. Follow these three simple rules and this might very well be the key to your success.
Get it right the first time!
You have an amazing app idea and you can’ t wait starting to write the code. But hold your horses right there! Before jumping into the coding fun take your sweet little time to plan out the design and the structure. This simple but often forgotten rule might save you a great amount of time of debugging. Just make bugs impossible by design by building apps with future in mind and a heavy focus on general architecture. It may increase the time taken to write the code, but it will definitely save you a lot of time that could be wasted on refactoring and finding out the source of bugs. An excellent piece of how to help developers prevent bugs instead of finding them by Software Testing News.
Automate all the things
Ain’t nobody got time to do the repetitive grunt work! Do not overlook things like continuous integration just because they will take some extra time to set up. Continuous integration is a great tool that allows developers to catch many bugs as soon as they happen by testing the code every commit. You and your team will see a detailed overview of all test runs and get instant notifications when a build or a test fails. This means you have the certainty that every change you make in the code has a green light and is not in conflict with related dependencies (For more check here). The result is less coffee for chasing bugs and more calm sleep that your application is as healthy as it can be.
So, trust me, setting up a proper workflow is an investment that will skyrocket your app development productivity. Go ahead and automate everything that you do repeatedly including command line (bash profile), text manipulation and log mining (Perl), refactoring (Eclipse), building, deploying, integrating (Nevercode), testing (Appium).
Computers rarely make mistakes, but software developers do.
It’s all about the tools and libraries
Give your mobile app developers the right set of tools and they will do something that is absolutely impossible! Even write error-free code? These days you’ll find all sorts of software that can save precious time off of your development projects. So make yourself familiar with all the available libraries out there in the language(s) of your choice and how to use them. Do not try to reinvent the wheel but rely on already proven tricks and hacks. Once you’re familiar enough with a library, a) you’re more likely to remember to use it when the opportunity strikes and b) you’re more likely to know how to use it and, therefore, resist the temptation to spin your own.
Invest your time and money in learning tools like Git, Appium, Nevercode, HockeyApp etc that can save you a lot of time in the long run.
Bonus tip: Let developers do what they love – writing the code!
If you want to improve the software developer’s productivity in your company, you must determine which tasks regularly pull developers away from their projects. Meaning to get things done faster let your developers do what they love and minimize all the distractions. And definitely, do not disturb a working developer with random semi-relevant questions. A simple question can ruin all the flow and re-concentrating takes several minutes off from the precious app development time. So, if you really need to approach do it via Slack or even better just DO NOT and let them code!
To your success!
Do you agree with these 3 steps? Let me know how do you boost your mobile app development productivity? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
