When it comes to building custom software, there are generally three things to consider from the jump:
- Time
- Cost
- Scope
What do these three things all tie into? Your return on investment and risk tolerance.
It’s no surprise that the longer you take to engineer your software product, the longer it’s going to realize your ROI. When your time to market lags on and on, your ability to light up net new revenue is pretty dim, and it’s going to take forever to recover your financial liability. And, the longer it takes and the more expensive it gets, the more likely your scope falls off the rails.
Taking the time to understand how these factors impact YOUR software product time to market from the jump will ensure your ROI goals are realized as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality.
Because, as we always say, build it right, build it fast, and build it to last. Without giving away all of our secret sauce — here are some key considerations.
How Software Time to Market Impacts Your Success
Yes, you want to be known as a software innovator in the marketplace. But if your software product takes much more than 90 days to get to market, you’re staring down the barrel of three big problems:
- Your initial investment is not being recouped.
- You’re not generating net new revenue.
- You’re not reinvesting in the software’s innovation.
If your product is going to take more than 90 days to get to market, say your team is now thinking a year (yikes!) — it’s time to challenge them. What CAN we build in our first three months to get to market to generate revenue? Then, laser focus on that.
Modularis Pro Tip 1: Always start with a technology roadmap and maintain that roadmap throughout the course of your development. That’s truly being agile. It’s crucial to have a plan rather than “wing it” and mask it as flexibility!
Modularis Pro Tip 2: Timing is everything. In your roadmap, be sure you’re strategic about when you’re launching your software product. For example, if you’re launching software in the e-commerce space, try to leverage your timing between Black Friday and Christmas.
If you start out with the right plan and approach, time is now on your side. And you can now begin further development — turning that initial investment into another 90-day innovation sprint. Doing so minimizes your risk, maximizes your ROI, and keeps your teams sharp and engaged.
Is that 90-day thing for real? The answer is YES.
Download our free 5-step guide to see how you can use PlatformPlus® to get to market in just 90 days — guaranteed.
How Automation Impacts Your Software Development Timeline
The clock doesn’t stop. It’s always ticking. So automation is one of the most impactful approaches to building software. This puts time on your side in a number of ways including:
- Freeing your team up so they spend more time innovating.
Sad stat: Most places spend 80% of their time on maintenance and only 20% on innovation. We help teams flip the script in this regard to great success.
- Leveraging low-code software development.
Using throwaway code is a huge waste of time, money, and talent. Plus, you’re at greater risk of human error when developers are constantly tinkering with the code.
Don’t build quick and dirty — build it quick and clean and get it right the first time.
The Value of Speed and Quality
Automation allows your team to quickly deliver on both speed and development.
If you’re developing all your software “by hand,” your developer is the main “tool” for execution, which doesn’t happen in an instant. Unless you are somehow given an infinite amount of time, it’s very rare to get quality down on the first try.
If you’re trying to speed through that software without any regard for quality, you may deliver on time, but you’re gonna end up with a lot of rework later on due to maintenance and bug fixing.
We know not everything will be perfect, which is why the best way to deliver both on speed and quality truly is automation.
How to Reduce the Risk of Life Slowing You Down
Another common challenge that causes delays is, simply put, life. We never really know what’s around the corner; team members get sick, people take vacations, machines break — the list goes on infinitely.
To counter this, you need to build redundancies of knowledge, equipment, and skill. You look ahead and try to predict any events that might affect your timeline, and be prepared for them.
Ready to talk about custom software timelines? Reach out to A.J. today for a no-risk conversation about where you stand and where you want to go. We can get you there — fast.
Are you ready to plan for success and speed up your software development timeline? Schedule time today!