Previously, web services were primarily built and developed as large projects. Between these projects, there was only minor development or the service was completely forgotten and left to its fate, until it was time to renovate the whole service again. 

Nowadays, the construction and development of web services often aim for a continuous development model. Despite the objective, many web service overhauls are still extensive projects aimed at revamping the service from start to finish. Undertaking a web service as a one-time project can present significant challenges.

1. Budget is depleted before the service is completed

When web service development is seen as one large project, it often happens that the budget is nearly exhausted before the service is launched. A large project ties up resources and staff for a long time and requires a lot of resources. However, what happens if, after the launch of the web service, it is realized that wrong choices and decisions were made during the project? 

2. Details are lost in the entirety

When the whole web service is changed at once, changes in the site's performance are usually observed. But what causes these changes? When all changes are made in one sweep, it is impossible to know which changes have benefited the business. Some changes made can even have negative impacts, but these are lost under the overall benefit achieved. 

3. The web service is outdated by the time it is launched

The world is changing at an accelerating pace. In the worst-case scenario, by the time the web service is finally completed, the choices made regarding technology or business are already outdated. Therefore, the web service is already old upon completion. 

How does continuous development address these issues?

Continuous development can be summarised into a simple formula:

With continuous development, the impacts of changes can be observed significantly faster than in a large project. When the whole is approached in smaller parts, it is possible to test and confirm the effects of changes. 

In this way, it becomes clear which changes actually benefit the business—and on the other hand, if any change brings about negative effects, it can be quickly addressed. By working in small parts, the effectiveness of changes can be tested and the right efforts can be prioritised. 

Continuous change requires agile responsiveness

The pace of change in the world, business, and online is constantly increasing.  Success requires the ability to react and operate agilely. In continuous development, it is crucial to select development targets that provide the most benefit to the business at that moment. When this is achieved, the results speak for themselves. 

Practically, continuous development might work, for example, in such a way that in a Monday weekly meeting, the completed tasks from the previous week are reviewed, and three new tasks are selected for the upcoming week, which might be A, B, and C. In the following Monday's weekly meeting, it might be noted that tasks A and C were completed, but B requires further information. The main goal for the upcoming week is to obtain the required additional information to complete B. Additionally, the next most important development targets, X and Y, are selected from the backlog for the week's work. 

Tasks ending up in the backlog can relate to completely new functionalities or improvements to existing implementations based on test and analysis results.

If a web service has become severely outdated or if a platform change is imminent, it may be necessary to build larger entities at once. Even then, the approach can be to quickly release the lightest possible version, following the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) approach. In this case, the first version of the web service is produced as efficiently and straightforwardly as possible, and its development continues immediately after the release.

This way, the continuous development model can also be adhered to in larger projects, allowing new sites to advance incrementally following the principles of continuous development: plan – implement – review – act.

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