Here's how to speed up software development: Tips that work

Accelerate your time to market

Having a faster time to market enables you to deliver a solution to your intended audience faster than your competitors. This means you’re the first to capture a large share of the market, increasing the odds of your users staying loyal to your brand. Your brand may even become synonymous with the solution itself. This is most evident when people say phrases like “Let me Google that” when they describe the act of using a search engine.

Reduce operating costs

Speeding up the software development cycle can help reduce the cost of software development. Cost savings can be achieved in the form of using low-code and no-code platforms, DevOps automation, and pairing the right talent with the right job.

Outsourcing to a nearshore or offshore software development team can also help reduce software development costs. Doing so helps you save money on labor onboarding and training, while paying only for the services you need.

Greater project transparency

Software development teams that prioritize speed and quality also foster greater project transparency. This is best achieved by adopting Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) workflows.

CI/CD workflows allow software development teams to release higher-quality software more quickly on a regular basis. Not only does it automate steps like code integration, testing, and deployment, but it also incorporates feedback into each development stage. The result is a more transparent software development process.

CI/CD tool usage is associated with better performance across all DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics, according to the State of CI/CD Report 2024.

Avoid technical debt

Following Agile practices not only helps speed up software development but also helps reduce technical debt. This is achieved by integrating testing into each stage of development and automating testing where possible to increase early bug detection. Working in sprints also encourages shorter feedback cycles, giving you more opportunities to review progress and share feedback.

Employee burnout

When tasked with working faster, human workers are prone to exhaustion, fatigue, and reduced productivity and motivation. This increases the risk of poor-quality code and bugs creeping into the final product, significantly compromising the user experience. Fortunately, there are ways to increase development velocity while avoiding employee burnout.

Software development teams that encourage their employees to work more intelligently (not more tirelessly), through the use of automation and AI-powered tools like GitHub Copilot, are more likely to avoid employee burnout. Teams that cultivate a culture of self-care and a healthy work/life balance also encourage higher employee productivity and loyalty.

At Orient Software, we place a high priority on getting the best out of our teams. That means we go beyond just assessing their hard and soft skills, but also their ability to gel together as a team, learn new skills, and practice self-care. This enables us to build and manage teams that work together harmoniously while maintaining a healthy work/life balance.

Low-quality code

Prioritizing speed has the potential to introduce low-quality code, increasing the risk of bugs, performance issues, and security concerns creeping into the final product. Not only does a low-quality product compromise your brand image, but it also tarnishes the user experience and your ability to maintain a solid market share.

This is why you should partner with a software development team that can maintain speed while producing high-quality code. At Orient Software, we incorporate Agile methodologies into our workflows, conducting regular code reviews to address bugs, code inconsistencies, and code smells (a characteristic of a source code that hints at a deeper problem).

Establish a clear roadmap

Ensure that everyone is on the same page about the project. Your software development team should clearly outline the essentials. These include details like the project timeline and budget, technical requirements, roles and responsibilities, and milestones and deliverables. By having everyone on the same page, the team will be able to work together to reach shared goals and outcomes.

At Orient Software, we take the time to establish a clear roadmap that meets your exact needs. We listen to your concerns. We define your technical requirements and desired outcomes. And we procure the necessary team members who can help bring your vision to life. By doing so, you’ll enjoy a streamlined software development cycle, one that prioritizes speed without compromising on quality.

Communicate expectations and updates

Partner with a software development team that prioritizes communication and regular updates. Doing so gives you the assurance that your team understands your vision and can deliver your project in a timely manner. Teams that communicate and collaborate effectively are likely to be more productive, motivated to work toward the same goals, and able to innovate in new and creative ways.

Our approach to software development involves making honesty and transparency a priority. We understand the negative effects of poor communication in the world of software development. It can stifle creativity, produce delays and setbacks, and contribute to a lower-quality product. To alleviate these concerns, we function as a true extension of your team by facilitating clear visibility from start to finish.

Follow Agile methodologies

Agile methodologies help boost software development speed in a number of ways. By working in sprints, software development teams can deliver milestones more frequently and shorten feedback cycles. This gives you more opportunities to review progress and share feedback, which the team can then use to improve the software.

Research shows that 71% of developers follow Agile methodologies, with 43% of those doing so to improve user satisfaction, according to the 17th Annual State of Agile Report. Agile also helps reduce waste and inefficiencies by removing features that don’t add value to the final product.

Automate processes where possible

Automation in software development involves automating processes, such as building, testing, and deploying software, that are otherwise performed manually by human workers.

By safely and correctly automating certain steps in the software development life cycle (SDLC), teams can boost productivity and reduce the risk of manual errors – especially when it comes to performing repetitive tasks. For example, automation can be deployed in unit and integration testing, where testing tools can automatically test code changes to ensure the new code does not break the existing software application.

Outsource to a reliable software development team

By outsourcing your software development needs to a reliable inshore or offshore team, you save time and hassle on onboarding, training, and managing your own in-house team. You also pay only for the services you need, as opposed to committing to paying for a full-time employee for at least a year. This results in a leaner and more efficient approach to software development, accelerating your time to market and ability to capitalize on gaps in the market.

Orient Software is one of Vietnam’s most trusted software development companies for outsourcing. Our 300+ strong team of talented developers enables us to confidently service a wide variety of industries across the globe. Whether it’s providing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for a new start-up or modernizing a legacy system with cloud-enabled systems, our capabilities are versatile enough to service projects big and small.