The world is increasingly becoming more and more digital. New programmes are constantly solving problems in our life – whether it be for businesses, hobbyists, students or general use. You may have a bright new idea for a piece of software that could have a place on the market. But how do you go about creating your own software? Here is a step-by-step guide to help you on your way.

Learn to programme

Unless you’re able to find a savvy group of programmers that can do the work for you, it may be worth learning a bit of coding yourself. This will help you to create a piece of software to your vision. There are various methods of learning to code from online courses, to workshops to private tuition. Learning can be difficult, but there are some dedicated people that have got to grips with it within a series of weeks. However long it takes you, don’t rush. Feel confident using a language and then start building very basic programmes – eventually you’ll have the skills to start work on your own software.

Assemble a team

You can create a programme entirely yourself, but having a keen team to help can drastically speed up the process. You should start with a design document and then create a programme that has all your core functionality (from there you can go about filling in the painstaking details). Divide up tasks within your team and get building. Use your programme language’s comment syntax to leave useful comments along the way so that someone else can understand your programme and pick up from where you are. Eventually you will have a prototype.

Alpha test

Once you have your prototype, assemble a testing team to find faults. Get your testers to sign non-disclosure agreement to prevent leaks to press and other users. You should also download testing management software to help your team record bugs – there are a number of QA tools that you could use for the job. Get your testers to try and break your software so that every weakness is tightened up and fixed. When you are happy with the result, lock your features – you are now ready for the beta testing phase.

Beta test

Here you will be testing your programme on the public in order to find out how easy it is to use from a non-programmer’s standpoint (as well as testing how it deals with a large amount of users at the same time). You should start polishing your programme up at this point – don’t add any more features, just try to work on improving aesthetics and usability. You may want to invest in graphic designers to make your programme easier on the eye. When you are happy with the programme, you can plan its release.

Release your software

Well done, you’ve built your own programme! From here you can either invest in a marketing team or promote it yourself. Post your programme on message boards, send press releases to tech blogs and magazines, create social media pages and release a How-To Youtube video teaching users how to operate your programme. Get your programme on the market and watch it flourish.

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