Building a Practical Software Development Process and Team

Abstract

With the powerful capabilities that are available in Drupal 8 there is a tendency to jump in and immediately begin building before stepping back and defining the requirements and architecting an effective and efficient solution framework. It is an easy trap to step into, one that I have found myself victim to over the years, but in the end, taking time to define what you’re trying to build before you begin the development process will save you countless hours of rework and frustration as you try to maintain, support, and sustain a solution that is held together with duct tape and bubble gum. Another common approach is to simply move your web site from one platform to another, replicating the potential inefficiencies from one solution framework to another. The “paving the cow path” approach often results in a solution that works, but it typically fails to provide breakthrough capabilities that will differentiate your organization in its respective markets, and it will likely take more time to try to force fit your old site’s structure and components into Drupal, which in many cases is significantly different from an architectural perspective, resulting in a less than optimal solution.