Software maintenance

Though often overlooked, ongoing software maintenance is an essential element of software development and critical to minimising the risks posed by technical debt. By understanding both software maintenance and technical debt, you can build accurate expectations of the time and budget needed for a successful software development project.

Software maintenance falls into four broad categories, all equally important to ensuring the optimal continued functionality of your software, from future proofing to preventing potential system vulnerabilities. After making the investment in software development it makes sense that as improvements are available you would implement them and protect that investment.

Technical debt is the accumulated cost of shortcuts and trade-offs made during the development process. These choices may have made sense at the time to create a testable Minimum Viable Product, or no longer be fit for purpose following a change in scope during the development process or a pivot following launch. Technical debt can be limited through a thorough planning process, but can also be managed with an ongoing software maintenance plan.

Adaptive software maintenance

Consider your software a living thing that interacts with the ever-changing world around it. As other elements of the ecosystem change, the system needs to adapt to ensure compatibility with its environment.

Changes can range from technological, such as operating system or hardware changes, to legislative, for example, changes made to the Privacy Act in 2020 on how personal information can be collected, stored and used.

Perfective software maintenance

Beta testing is a critical part of the Build - Measure - Learn process of software development, however even following launch, the learning process continues.

As more real-world data is collected and user needs, the operating environment and the market change, ongoing finetuning of the system, functionality and capabilities keep the software relevant. Whether refining, adding or deleting features, the goal is improving the quality of the software and reducing technical debt.

Corrective software maintenance

Bugs and errors are inevitable in even the most carefully designed and regularly maintained software, and corrective maintenance is all about detecting and correcting these to ensure the system's effective operation. You can’t test every outcome during development or beta testing, so some bugs are only picked up through user reports or regular reviews once software has been released.

Bugs fall into two categories; logical bugs and bugs in the code. Logical bugs are when users take a path that wasn’t anticipated so wasn’t allowed for in the design of the software. These can be remedied through perfective or corrective maintenance. Bugs in the code can be the result of errors or a misunderstanding of how a set of functions work, resulting in unintended side effects.

Preventive software maintenance

Most easily understood as futureproofing, preventative maintenance aims to find and resolve issues before they cause problems. A good preventive software maintenance programme reduces the risk of big problems arising or significant remedial work being required, and makes software more scalable and efficient.

It identifys latent faults (small issues that aren’t causing major problems yet) so they are fixed before becoming operational faults. It can include recognising changes in user behaviour or volume before they happen and building contingencies into the software in preparation. It also identifies risk areas of technical debt and allows the development team to continuously address them. Because it is planned and proactive, preventive software maintenance can be scheduled in advance to minimise disruption to users.

What should you expect from your software developer?

Without maintenance and the ongoing reduction of technical debt your software will fail to consistently deliver on the promise made to users and will eventually fail. During the discovery process a software developer should make it clear that maintenance is an integral part of the development process, and outline the trade off of choices made to get the software launched that may incur technical debt.

The scope of work for the software development project should include a roadmap to maintain your software and address this debt, so you know what to expect and can adequately resource it.

Rescuing neglected software

As with financial debt, technical debt comes with interest – as time goes on, the effort required to fix or improve the codebase increases, making it harder and more expensive to maintain, enhance, or extend the software.

If your software has reached a point where maintenance is overdue and the technical debt has spiralled a developer can create a remedial software maintenance plan, however it may be that a rebuild is a better solution. A software developer should be able to explain the options so you can make an informed decision. It could also be an opportunity for significant improvements to the digital solution if the tech available has improved or the operating environment has changed significantly since the original build.

Interested in learning more about how to develop an app? Check out our blog on what you need to know.

Want to talk about a software development project or maintenance on an existing product? Get in touch.