Designing Software
It’s exciting to come up with a new software product, but in the whirlwind of the creation, it can be easy to make mistakes. Even the most seasoned pros can run into problems from time to time. So when you create new software for yourself or your brand and clients, here is how to avoid the most common pitfalls.

Solidify Your Concept

Before you get too deep into designing software, it pays off to do some work beforehand. One of the most important things you can do is ensure you have a proof of concept for your software.


When you have a solid proof of concept, it adds value to your project. You’ll be able to show people your plan, why it works, and the steps you’ll need to take to get there. If you find that all you have is an idea and no research to back up why it might do well as a product, you might want to take a step back and develop your idea more.

Once you have a fully researched proof of concept, you can create a timeline for design and development that will make the whole process easier to follow.

Understanding the Complexities of the Design

It’s easy to jump into a design project without understanding all of the complexities of what you are trying to build. When creating your design, you need to know how many other systems you might need to work with and what the limitations of your team are.

If you’re working with many different developers and designers, they may be able to take on any problem with ease. But smaller teams could be overwhelmed with complex issues and need more time to solve them. If you know how difficult a project is, you can be better equipped to put together the right team and avoid any problems from there.

Create a Realistic Timeline

A common pitfall is creating a timeline or unrealistic schedule that can’t be met. You don’t want to promise that you’ll have the design for the software done before it can be completed. When you start your project it is helpful to add extra days to the timeline for different design steps. If you know that one step may be tedious, you can put spare time there if it takes longer. Falling behind on your timeline can lead to losing money on the project. So having a timeline that you know you can stick to and having a little wiggle room can make the task easier to complete and stay on budget.

Design for the Future

One key element of software design is making sure someone else can expand upon it in the future. As technology continues to grow and develop, there may be edits or improvements to add to the software down the line. Instead of thinking about how the software can work now, it helps to create something that can move with the times.

In the software development itself, it helps to implement structures that can be worked on while the rest of the code can still run. This way, you can create and develop evolutions while the software runs. You can also avoid modifying other parts of the software that you are happy with and hone in on one or two changes. If another designer or company comes along that wants to make adjustments, they can do so easily without tracking down people that may no longer be working on the project.

Make it Easy to Test

Software designs can be difficult to test at different stages of development. There are ways you can develop your codes to make sure that you can run tests on varying parts of the software design. You can then figure out how easy or difficult it is to edit certain design parts throughout the process. Testing along the way also makes it easy to understand the user experience which is another pitfall to avoid. When you test your design as a user, you may have to make tweaks and edits you wouldn’t have made before.

Conclusion

Designing software is a huge undertaking. From creating the concept to building the team and executing the design, there are a lot of places where things can fall through the cracks. But understanding the common pitfalls can help smooth out the entire process and help your product immensely in the long run.