The more things change, the more they stay the same. While that is indeed a cliché, it’s one that rings true when it comes to the world of software development. It might seem like a rather counterproductive way of looking at things, but it really isn’t. Take a closer look and you’ll realise that it’s every bit as true.
The essence of what it takes to be successful as a software developer has remained the same from the earliest days right up to the present time. It might seem like it has changed, but what has changed is everything else around the core industry of software development.
Developing a core product that fills a specific need
The advantage of one of the elements of how software development plays out these days resides in how the typical development terrace goes, which is representative of somewhat of a code sprint. You can go it one-man if you really wish to hammer out some code with which you can go to market, but the fundamental element is that of building something which fills a specific need in the market.
These targeted “needs” are definitely dynamic in their nature, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting started with a specific targeted need over fear of it being too late by the time you get to market. That is after all the beauty of being in the software business – your overheads are basically your burn (the time it takes for you to create whatever it is you’re building and the associated living expenses to sustain you while you’re busy).
So go ahead and build that application. You can always run patches to update the core code, but the bottom line is there has to be a specific need for you to fill.
Output as a factor of time
The time factor is worth emphasising once again as this is essentially what makes up the “raw materials” which go into the production of your solution. So there’s just no other way – you have to put in the time, whether you go it alone or if you perhaps break the coding tasks down and assign them amongst coders, some of whom can even be located all over the world to subsequently contribute remotely to your project.
Targeting your end-user clients
Stealth is the only way to make sure your solution is received by the targeted end-users who will be willing to pay for it, but you might just get lucky and have one deployment spread through word-of-mouth, recommendations or referrals.
Take it upon yourself to arrange a demonstration for your targeted clientele and show them physically what your solution can do for them. Deploy a trial version if you have to and create video tutorials showing exactly how the application works.
Tailoring (if required) and expansion
Once you have a nice selection of clients who use your software then it’s generally smooth sailing from there because all you really need to do is take care of the next step of the natural life-cycle of a software solutions service, which is to improve on the performance and patch bug fixes if needs be.
