Choosing the right technology stack before planning an application development is one of the most painful processes that startups, CIO/CTO, software developers, and businesses have to pass through. There are hundreds of options available for web application development, and in case if you are a non-technical person, a wrong factor or a step-in picking on the right tech stack for the application can bear grievous consequences.
What is Technology Stack?
The term technology stack refers to a mix of client-side and server-side technology, along with famous as the front-end and back-end. Client-side is where real interaction happens primarily with the user. The back end includes a server, an app, and a database. While one layer of the web app is created on top of the alternative with the help of codes and hardware modules, this forms a stack.
After a quick glimpse of the basic understanding of technology stack, let’s dive in caution points on how not to choose the right technology stack for web development and must avoid.
#1 – Never Choose a Technology on Personal Preference
Personal preference can be a good thing to pick a technology stack for web application development, but it can be a big blooper if it back-fires. For instance, if you have relevant project experience in web development, then it will result in smooth delivery, but if you haven’t worked upon a web development project with similar tech stack, then it might land you in failure for picking the wrong components for your tech stack.
#2 – Don’t Copy Your Competitor’s Portfolio
Don’t forget that your client’s project is unique, and your ultimate goal is to deliver, which satisfies your client’s needs and beat the rival companies, not replicate them. Hence, if you make a wrong choice, it might cost you your client, and putting the entire project on stake doesn’t really make sense, which isn’t cheap.
#3 – Online Research a Big No
Selecting the right tech stack is more about picking the right tech stack with proper consultation with your tech experts and practical experience, which you have applied before and have worked for you. If your pick for your tech stack is merely based upon online research and no experience, this will put you in deep trouble along the way. Not to forget which will result in losses and an unhappy client.
#4 – Don’t Select Only on Bases of Previous Projects
Yes! You read it right! No matter how successful the previous project was and fulfilled your client’s need at that stage. The tech stacks today and the components you use this time might be outdated or not suitable for this project on hand and client needs. This might be a crucial judgment call, but all projects are unique in its way, so be careful.
So, What Makes A Perfect Blend of Technology Stack Then?
Criteria 1: Type of web application
Criteria 2: Solution-based factors in play
Criteria 3: Overall Development Cost
Criteria 4: Tech Talent Pool
Criteria 5: Scalability
Criteria 6: Study the target audience for the project
Criteria 7: Maintainability
Criteria 8: Time to Market
Criteria 9: Preferred Open Source in the Stack
Criteria 10: Follow Market Trend & Be realistic
Deciding upon a tech stack can be pretty straightforward if you have evaluated appropriate parameters and factors relevant with experience and not just theoretical based study or research then, your chances of choosing a wrong technology is much lower to fail while might result in huge losses.
Here’s a Quick List of Criteria to Guide You Through the Process:
Criteria 1: Type of Web application
When it comes to choosing a technology stack for web application development, the type of development is the principal thing that needs to be considered. A tech stack is a utility tool for creating a web app, so you require to fully apprehend what you’re planning to develop in order to pick the appropriate tools.
Three types of complexity:
(1) Simple
(2) Mid-level
(3) Complex
These are the significant things to take into consideration since your business goals can influence the choice of technologies for development.
Criteria 2: Solution-based factors in play
Technology is often the key to offering a solution in enterprise web application development. Through a need arisen at the organization leads to the need for a new concept of the web application. Hence, clients hire web development experts to create a variety of web apps.
Each problem has a solution to offer which assists you to choose the right technology
Such as,
- AngularJS is flexible, and developers can easily incorporate it.
- Node.js is suitable for real-time applications like chat apps or games.
- Python is proper large computations and crunching numbers for statistics.
Criteria 3: Overall Development Cost
While development cost calculation, many factors play a role in a tech stack. The dedicated developers, tools, and technology being used, maintenance cost, security measures, and more.
Nowadays, most of the tech stacks are available as open-source with few in-built features. However, for advanced functionalities, you might need to purchase the license. While picking a tech stack, you need to carefully examine both inbuilt and the premium features to check its adaptability with your project and within your excepted budget criteria.
Criteria 4: Tech Talent Pool
It’s not rocket science to assume that project managers prefer to choose the technology their team is good at unless you are looking to outsource or hire a new resource. If so, your development team must make their mark in every project on hand. Your team should be capable enough to handle hiccups or issue which arise during the project. It is wise to choose a technology stack accordingly, as this will always enhance all client calls as well during the development. Similarly, for the client-side: without doubts, selecting the technology your development team masters.
Criteria 5: Scalability
Scalability to pick the right tech stack refers to the specific stage of the product, when the owner takes the call to upgrade to enhance efficiency and productivity or even add features and functionalities. This upgradation also occurs after the launch of prototype or customer feedback after the first phase. Hence, taking a call on the right mix in the tech stack, considering factors like Minimum Viable Product (MVP) version, allotted timeline, and budget. Most developers succeed due to the MVP model, where both type scalability factors have to be analyzed, such as:
Vertical Scalability: The capacity to add new components to the web application without ruining its overall performance.
Horizontal Scalability: When the quantity of customers grows drastically, the web application should be able to accommodate it seamlessly.
Criteria 6: Study the target audience for the project
To understand your buyer’s persona properly answer a few of the below questions about your potential customers, such as:
- Who is your target audience?
- What location are they based on?
- Are they tech-savvy?
- Is it a simple, mid-range, or a complex project?
- Can your resources fulfill the needs of the product?
- How much traffic and downloads to you expect?
A complete picture of an ideal customer and their needs can be understood to focus while choosing a tech stack for web application development such as CMS, Framework, or which open-source tech to pick.
Criteria 7: Maintainability
While choosing a web application development technology stack, the code should be manageable and easy to use. If the code is or too lengthy too complicated, the developer would need a long time to process, resolve or modify in the future. It gets tedious even while testing and debugging and transit.
Criteria 8: Time to Market
Time to market – TTM is so essential when it comes to deciding a tech stack for startups and businesses. The quicker you develop adopting Agile marketing and release your web application, the better you are than your competitors. Also, it will require less time development and the development cost will be cost-effective.
Here are a few smart factors to consider when choosing the right tech stack:
- Out-of-the-box solutions
- Integration with third-party solutions
- Developer availability
- Documentation
- Easy to test
Criteria 9: Preferred Open Source in the Stack
May you be blessed with the Open Source!
Open source saves you the pain of building everything from scratch. It is always believed in the industry best practices that ” Many smart brains are better off than just one.”
Although there’s a catch here too:
- The tech has evolved over time and not right away in its early stages.
- Are concerns or bugs fixed timely?
- Check the license of the language /framework periodically.
- Documentations and codes easy and thorough enough?
Criteria 10: Follow Market Trend & Be Realistic
Make sure the selected technology is likely to remain in demand and well supported in the future. It’s always simpler to use trending technologies that are popular and spoken about.
Remain Realistic: Always cross-check that you opt for the tech stack, which lets you design the functionality you need. However, ensure you don’t underestimate your tech team skills or the budget.It’s imperative to remain realistic during the entire period of web app development.
Wrapping Up:
Do your homework before picking the right technology stack for web application development. Understand the requirements your project needs clearly, and also make sure to adopt a holacracy approach to help your organization to be more agile. Time-proven technologies are always a better option to take into consideration.
