Creating complex software is not at all complicated, and sometimes it is done right at the beginning of a project, even before solving a single business problem.
Jarmo Pertman — 2023-10-10 (3 minute read)
Very often, complex software is created even when the client has not requested it. This happens for various reasons, but one of the biggest reasons can be attributed to the development team's fascination for technological choices. Technological choices can have a significant impact on the time spent on development, the complexity of developing new functionality, the number of bugs in production, and the analysis and resolution of problems.
However, creating a simple, efficient, high-quality, and easily extensible system is very challenging, and many development teams are not capable of doing so due to a lack of relevant experience or mindset.
For some reason, there is often a phenomenon in development teams where, when starting a new project, technologies are chosen based on popularity. The belief is that "if others are using it, then it must be a good and right tool that also fits well for solving our problems."
And so, on the very first day of the project, terms like "modern web technologies", including SPA (Single Page Application) frameworks like React/Vue, microservices, Kubernetes, and AWS, are introduced. Before making these choices, the development team often does not think through the nature of the problem that needs to be solved and whether all the selected technologies are necessary and actually solve it, or if they bring added complexity that slows down or hinders development, resolution of production issues, and deployment of changes to production.
Sometimes, these technologies find their way into the project because the client demands their adoption, having heard how others use these technologies. At such moments, it's worth considering how often mistakes are publicly acknowledged.
It's important not to forget that sometimes people don't know or realize that the chosen technologies make their lives more complicated because they don't even think in the direction of simplicity due to a lack of relevant experience. Additionally, there are people who enjoy doing complex things for the sake of learning, which can unintentionally shift the project's success into the background.
Instead of hastily or popularity-driven technology choices, it would be wise to use common sense. The best way to move towards simpler systems is to thoroughly consider each technological choice before introducing it in the project.
For example, you could ask yourself such questions:
A straightforward rule of thumb when making technological choices is that, in addition to positive qualities, every choice also has negative aspects. What makes the assessment challenging, however, is that teams with limited experience often struggle to evaluate the negative aspects because influencers who are fans of a particular technology tend not to talk about its drawbacks.
Complex software is not always necessary for improving business processes, and it's no coincidence that there exists a KISS principle. Unfortunately, creating simple software can be challenging because it requires years of experience, analytical and self-critical thinking, discipline, and the application of best practices in software development and project management.
At Solutional, our team of experienced developers is capable of creating simple solutions because we have done so repeatedly in the past. We have discussed in this article in more detail why choosing Solutional as your software development partner is a wise decision.
Certainly, there are times when complex software is justified, but in such cases, the development team should be able to provide reasoned arguments for the choices made and have an understanding of the potential drawbacks as well.
Solutional is an agile software development company which has a team of professional engineers who are able to solve all software problems from beginning to the end without any middlemen.
Contact us at info@solutional.ee in case you have any new or existing projects needing help with successful execution.