5 Tips for your next software project

When it comes to software development, experience really teaches you what works and what doesn’t. Having been around the block for a while I’ve picked up a few go-to strategies that might help you avoid common pitfalls and build something that’s both solid today and flexible enough for tomorrow. Here are my top five tips for making your next project a success.

1. Design for tomorrow, build for today

It’s easy to get caught up in trying to create the perfect solution right off the bat, but here’s the truth: you probably won’t get it perfect on your first try, and that’s okay. The key is to keep the future in mind while solving the immediate problem in front of you.

• Think of tomorrow: Even if the solution you’re building now isn’t going to last forever, try to design with future needs in mind. But live with the notion that tomorrow might never be.
• Iterate: Don’t stress about getting everything right from the start. Focus on solving today’s problems, but leave room for flexibility. As the project grows and time goes you will recognize that tomorrow is hard to predict.

In short, it’s all about balancing present needs with future growth.

2. Keep it simple

There’s a saying in development: the simplest solution is usually the best one. It’s tempting to overcomplicate things in an effort to “future-proof” your code, but complexity adds unnecessary headaches.

• Don’t over-engineer: Complex systems are harder to build, harder to maintain, and harder to fix when they break. Stick to the simplest approach that works.
• But don’t oversimplify: This doesn’t mean you should dumb down your solution to fit a simple idea. Make sure you understand the problem before you start cutting things out.

Simplicity is key, your future self will thank you when you need to make updates or troubleshoot an issue.

3. Deploy Your Code from Day 1

Don’t overthink it, deploy it!. The faster you deploy, the better.

• Get it out there: Don’t let code sit on your machine for too long. Make deploying part of your daily routine to avoid late problems of underestimating the world around your project.
• Use feature toggles: These allow you to release code gradually, even if it’s not 100% finished. This means you can deploy early and often without worrying about breaking things for your users.
• Testing in production: This one is controversial and yes it is a provocation, but hear me out. Automate your testing efforts right away and focus on small increments to guard quality.

The sooner you get your code into the hands of real users, the sooner you can find bugs and make improvements.

4. Treat read and write models differently

When working with data, reading and writing often have different performance and design dimensions. Trying to treat them the same can slow you down.

• Write models: Writing data usually comes with latency because it needs to be saved to a database or other persistent storage. You don’t want to mix this with your read model.
• Read models: Reading data is often more time-sensitive, so it’s better to optimize it for speed. Consider separating your read and write models using CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation). This allows you to create fast, flexible read models without being tied down by slow write operations and build for caching.

5. Fake it until you make it

When it comes to user interactions, speed matters. You don’t want your users sitting around waiting for backend processes to finish.

• Go asynchronous: Whenever possible, avoid making users wait by using asynchronous operations. Offload long tasks to the background and give your users the feeling that everything is snappy and responsive.
• Fake success: Sometimes, you don’t need to wait for a process to complete before giving users feedback. Show a success message right away or use tricks like skeleton screens to keep the interface responsive while the backend finishes up.

This not only improves the user experience but also gives you more time to handle complex operations on the backend without users feeling like something is broken.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, software development is all about balancing present needs with future potential. By designing for tomorrow, keeping things simple, separating read and write models, deploying code early, and using asynchronous patterns, you’ll build software that’s efficient, scalable, and—most importantly—maintainable.