Software development life cycle, as we know it today, has gone through drastic changes in the past decade. And, you can expect a similar trend in the next decade. We cannot be sure about what the future has in store for software development. But, by looking at the current trends and software development cycles of futuristic businesses, we can predict the direction in which we are heading.
In this article, let’s look at some of the modern ways of looking at software development cycles in the upcoming decade. After going through this article, you’ll have a fair idea about what to expect from the future of software development, and you can use this to be well-equipped for the future.
1. Test-Driven Development (TDD) and Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)
Traditionally, in the software development cycle, development comes first, followed by various forms of testing. However, a modern approach to software development has been test-driven development, where design, development, and testing stages are closely knit.
TDD typically involves starting with a unit test case based on the feature that needs to be developed and then running the test case in order to analyze the results. Based on these, development is done so that the code is minimalistic enough to pass the test case. Based on the design needs, the process is repeated until all the test cases pass.
ATDD is another recent take on TDD where instead of simply relying on unit test cases, people from different groups come together to create acceptance tests. Customers, developers, and testers collaborate to create acceptance test cases, and the development is done based on these tests.
2. Behaviour Driven Development (BDD)
BDD is another recent software development methodology that refines TDD and ATDD practices to get even better results. This software development methodology starts with the process of defining the desired business outcomes from the software features.
These business outcomes are studied, and implementation is carried out only for those behaviors that directly contribute to these outcomes. This methodology has a different take on the usual software development process.
In the upcoming decade, we can expect new innovations that further refine TDD, ATDD, and BDD.
3. Software Prototyping and MVPs
Software prototyping is another recent trend in the software development cycle space. These methods involve creating prototypes or Minimum Viable Product (MVP) versions of your software product by simulating only a few features of the actual product.
This way, it becomes easier, cheaper, and cost-effective to test the audience’s response to your software solutions. This data is then used further to launch the actual software product in the market.
For example, developing an ecommerce fulfillment service center’s system will start with launching a software prototype with certain features in the market and testing user responses. Based on these inputs, the actual software design and implementation are tweaked to ensure maximum profitability.
In the upcoming decade, we can expect similar or even more feasible solutions to software development that take a customer-centric approach right from the start of the cycle.
4. Focus Group Studies
Focus group studies have become a common phenomenon in software development cycles. This process involves getting your software reviewed by a small focus group and getting their feedback on the intractability and usability of your software solution.
This approach stems from the importance of UI/UX in recent years. User experience has become a crucial part of any software development process and thus, having focus group studies has a massive impact on the improvement of your product’s user experience.
5. Automation
Though we have not found a way yet, to completely automate the development process, we have come up with some innovative solutions to apply automation in the various stages of the software development life cycle.
Test automation involves automating different stages of software development testing has been an efficient and effective approach to software testing. Automation has also been a trend in the software integration and deployment stages of the software development cycles.
Automation of Continuous Integration (CI)/ Continuous Delivery (CD) pipelines has seen a massive boom in the past few years, and we can expect some more innovations in these aspects in the future.
Final Thoughts
No one can predict what the future has in store for us. However, keeping up with the modern ways of software development cycles can help us get some idea of what to expect from the future. By understanding, learning, and implementing the ideas given in this article, you can be well prepared for the future of software development.
Check out all the software testing webinars and eBooks here on EuroSTARHuddle.com
