…continued from A Case of Underinvestment…
To avoid underinvestment in a new technology, an organization has to budget enough time, money and resources to not only get the application up and running correctly but also keep it up and running correctly.
There are no shortcuts with software development—whether it’s the cloud IVR platform and infrastructure Plum rolls out for our customers or the applications customers design themselves using Plum’s platform and tool set.
Before getting started, organizations need to find a platform that has proven itself in the industry. They then need to invest the proper amount of capital to ensure they get the technology right for them, the proper support plan and any consulting or application-development services that can augment their skills to help the project get completed on time and within the budget allotted.
The best IVR vendors will also offer toolsets and tutorials for DIY developers—built on the experience of the developers who designed and built the software platform.
Bottom line, though, the hard work is on the shoulders of the DIY developer. They have to take all the same steps and do all the same due diligence that professional developers do—to ensure that they understand how the vendor’s platform works and that their application runs properly.
If you ask Joel Spolsky of JoelOnSoftware.com, there’s a serious lack of due diligence on the part of many software developers. To counter this, Spolsky developed a simple list of 12 yes or no questions for developers to ask themselves, to see if they’re development processes are up to snuff.
The questionnaire asks such things as whether the developer has a spec or an up-to-date development schedule, or whether the developer uses the “best tools money can buy.” A point is awarded for correct answers.
From Spolsky’s blog:
A score of 12 is perfect, 11 is tolerable, but 10 or lower and you’ve got serious problems. The truth is that most software organizations are running with a score of 2 or 3, and they need serious help, because companies like Microsoft run at 12 full-time.
He’s talking about software companies, not just one developer at a small company. Even some software companies find software development tricky. Next up, IBM’s Best Practices…
