My top 5 common problems in software/ web development process

Software or Web development has many risks associated with it. Some of them may be planning risks, which becomes responsibilities of all stakeholders involved in the project, some may be software risks, which are more closely connected to the day-to-day development process. Other risks may be inherent from general software development or may be specific to the software environment.

Here are the top 5 common problems in web development process.

1. Poor Requirements: If the functional requirements of the features are unclear, incomplete, too general or requirements that are not testable, there might be a problem in the development process.
2. Unrealistic schedule: If too much features are to be developed and tested in too little time, problems are inevitable.
3. Inadequate Testing: If the software is released or published with out adequate testing, no one will know whether or not the software is any good until the customer complains or system crashes, which will guarantee a bad reputation for the organizations and its process.
4. Additional Feature Requests: Request to add new features during or after the development process is underway is very common practice. This would add tremendous pressure on developers and testers, and the software quality will be compensated if this is not taken in to account during project scheduling process. 
5. Miscommunication: If customers have erroneous expectations, project managers don't know whats is required, developers don't know what is needed or testers don't have sufficient functional requirements, problems are guaranteed.

Why is Usability testing so important?

Usability testing is carried out in order to find out if there is any change needs to be carried out in the developed system (may it be design or any specific procedural or programmatic change) in order to make it more and more user friendly so that the intended/end user who is ultimately going to buy and use it receives the system which he can understand and use it with utmost ease.

Any changes suggested by the tester at the time of usability testing, are the most crucial points that can change the stand of the system in intended/end user’s view.  Developers/Designer of the system need to incorporate the feedbacks (here feedback can be a very simple change in look and feel or any complex change in the logic and functionality of the system) of usability testing into the design and developed code of the system (the word system may be a single object or an entire package consisting more than one objects) in order to make system more and more presentable to the intended/end user.

Developer often try to make the system as good looking as possible and also tries to fit the required functionality, in this endeavor he may have forgotten some error prone conditions which are uncovered only when the end user is using the system in real time.
Usability testing helps developer in studying the practical situations where the system will be used in real time. Developer also gets to know the areas that are error prone and the area of improvement.

In simple words, usability testing is an in-house dummy-release of the system before the actual release to the end users, where testers can find loop holes and developer can fix the possible loop holes.