Build Less Software.

The founding of Peak 3 was informed by a simple observation learned over 20 years of experience in the software industry. And that is that the culture of the software industry itself is often an uncontrolled risk.

The practice of software engineering is fad-driven. Technologies come and go, often for no better reason than a popular speaker mentioned them at a conference. Engineers want to work on the New Hotness to polish their resumes, even when proven technologies might be a better fit.

Frequently teams fall in with the latest trend and begin building engineering masterpieces just for the sake of having built engineering masterpieces. When engineers fetishize the latest fad in software development, they lose sight of serving the customer. Before long, there are engineers writing code that is completely divorced from the needs of the customer.

But here customers are exposed to another risk: every line of code requires maintenance. Even if that code is not customer-facing, or was overkill when it was built. Routine outside forces (for example, the annual iPhone release cycle) ensure that no piece of software is ever “done.” Upgrades are a natural part of software. Therefore, one way to reduce risk and cost in custom software development is by simply writing Less Software.

Less Software is an approach to building projects that acknowledges the inherent complexity in software engineering. Less Software starts major decisions with the question “Can we build Less?” Less Software means less maintenance, less complexity, and often higher reliability. Less Software doesn’t mean cutting corners, rather it is about building the most simple software that will deliver the business goals.

Less Software means more resources focused on creating business value and fewer resources spent managing technology.

Why don’t more companies aim to build Less Software? The reasons vary, but one key reason is it’s hard to demonstrate the elegance needed to deliver Less Software. A complex application guarantees lots of buzzwords for engineers’ resumes. Less Software may involve a more elegant solution with fewer moving parts. Peak 3 believes that delivering Less Software for our customers will result in happier customers in the long term.

It may seem like a contradiction for a software services firm to advocate building Less Software. After all, we only get paid for building software! But we firmly believe that the strongest customer relationships are built on trust. And one of the ways we earn that trust is by providing unvarnished advice. Besides, it’s the right thing to do.

Please get in touch, we’d love to see if Less Software is right for your project.