Developers
What "Asset" means
When it comes to thinking about software assets, many companies make the mistake of believing that the primary value lies with their code. It's the thing which is most jealously guarded as embodying their intellectual property.
​
However, as the huge success of the Open Source Community has demonstrated, the real value of software lies in its ability to offer relevant benefits to its users. For companies addressing specialist markets, this ability is given by detailed, and often hard-won, domain and application knowledge. That is the real intellectual property that needs to be fostered and protected.
​
As anyone who has had to maintain large bodies of code will know, code itself is often not only the provider of benefits, but also the source of many regrettable and expensive problems. These are more often than not the Enemy Within.
How to protect assets
The key to reducing the hidden cost of code-based assets does not lie in the code itself, but in the culture of your development teams and your processes as a whole.
​
The truth is that the fundamental assets that must be looked after are the software developers themselves. It is their detailed understanding of your domain that must be preserved and explained to future developers. It is their ability to sustain conscientious attention to detail that will prevent future disasters. It is their willingness to participate in design and code reviews that will steadily improve the quality of their output. Unfortunately, few of the skills which are needed for this type of asset protection have formed part of the traditional programmer's repertoire, even when they are adept at the Dark Art of code production.
​
All development processes that are intended to lead to an excellent conclusion demand a certain degree of clarity, simplicity, and adaptability. Software engineers are, after all, human beings, and so may require some rational incentives to comply.
​
Akkha can help you tackle the sometimes daunting task of assembling or mentoring software development teams. Why not contact us and find out how?