In my 12 years running a web development company in the Philippines, I’ve lost profit in redoing projects that were done poorly, or taken projects that were poorly done by another developer.
Part of our values as a company is to make sure that our projects are done in perfection. Thus, here are 10 simple rules that we follow as a company to make sure that our projects – small or big would be done in the highest quality.
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When testing, don’t test for your applications to do what its supposed to do, test it so it would produce error.
Most programmers test to validate that their application does what its supposed to do. Yes – this is the first step but testing should not stop here. As a web developer, you know how its done and you would know how it would trigger and error. The right thing to do is to test the application so that it would produce an error and make sure you modify your application to trap this error.
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Remember: not all users are programmers.
When building a project, even with the help of a UX specialist, make sure that you incorporate the basics of User Experience. Be consistent in navigations, display errors in layman’s terms, etc. Make sure that your application is usable to a basic user. A good measure is to ask your granny to test it.
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It’s not just about browsers anymore.
We’re now in a mult-device world. Testing should not be limited to browser compatibility but also device compatibility.
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Do it right the first time.
Doing it right the first time is a lean concept. Fixing bugs are waste in lean. If you can reduce them by doing it right, it would cost you less time to complete your project.
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Format your code well.
Chances are you are working as a team. Format your code well so your team members can read it easily. Readability of the code is an internal quality standard. It would also help you in finding that tiny logic error that bugs the system down.
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Refactor your code.
I never knew about the term code refactoring until my brother mentioned about implementing it to some of our big scale projects. Code refactoring reduces complexity and improves readability of your code. It will make it easier for you to extend the web application’s features later on.
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Write inline code documentation.
One of the most important rules to follow is inline code documentation. For every function/module, write your name as the developer and a description of what the function does. Version changes should also be written to make it easy to trace a change in the future.
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Don’t forget security!
We’re in a time where almost every kid knows how to code. If the code is done without security in mind, chances are someone can just steal data or delete your database.
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The devil is in the details.
From an article I’ve read about life lessons, it says if you can’t do small things right, you can never do big things right. As the saying goes, quality can be seen in the smallest details. Have an eye for detail – some change in code might not change how it would behave externally but they would change how your application uses hardware resources – memory, cpu utilisation, etc.
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Celebrate your success.
Make time to celebrate a successful development project. Every project done right is a milestone not just in your career but in your life. Don’t forget the lessons you’ve learned in your project. Experience is priceless and they are building blocks to make you a better developer.
