Development schedule for web applications?

Question

Hi everybody,

I am looking for some kind of solution to take care of development scheduling for web applications. How does the big guys in the industry handle this?

Is it all about SVN and bug trackers for them?

Answer 1

I'm not doing web develoment myself, but I assume that the approach for web development is exactly the same as for other big developments (which my team IS doing). In that case, the following tips might help:

• Use version management (SVN, ...)
• Be agile (this is also resembled by the following points)
• Make a mixed team (developers, testers, designer, functional responsibles, ...) that all work as an integrated team on the same subject. Make sure the whole team communicates.
• Make everyone responsible for the whole project. Never blame individuals if things go wrong.
• Be sure the whole team knows the status of the project: where are we, what should still be done, ... Make everything visual by sticking graphs and sheets to your office wall.
• Keep the time between 'raised questions or raised problems' and the answer or solution short. E.g. if a bug is found, log it immediately and try to solve it as soon as possible.
• Develop incrementally. Don't develop for several months and then start testing, but make sure you have a working copy every day.
• Split development/design/... tasks in smaller tasks that can be developed incrementally (see previous point) and in a minimal amount of time (a day or a few days).
• Automate tests as much as possible.
• Use continuous integration (where the tests are run at every commit in the version management system)
• As a manager, support your team.
• Focus
• Shield the people of the team from all kind of problems not directly related to the project (e.g. PC problems, printer problems, ...). Choose a 'scrum manager' that solves all these annoying problems for the team.
• Demonstrate the results at regular intervals to your customer, your boss, ...
• Give a reception if an important milestone is reached.

There are probably many more tips. Therefore, read a good book about managing software development. There is probably no essential difference between web development and other software develoments.