Why Businesses Should Be Using Git for Software Development and Releases

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Why Businesses Should Be Using Git for Software Development and Releases

Git is the most popular version control system (for software development) globally. It is a dependable option for collaborative development, as it does not only reliably monitor the changes in the project files but also enables the reversion to specific older versions of a software project. These already make Git an excellent option for collaboration, but it also offers several other features developers love.

However, it’s not going to be all fun and games with Git. Businesses that decide to adopt it, should also be ready for the potential problems. Issues are inevitable, although the benefits clearly overwhelm them.

Veering away from unnecessary complexities

While some may argue against the claim that Git is easy to use, many would respond that Git is indeed intuitive, especially in simple use cases. Using it gets harder as systems become more complex, but not to an extent that would make developers abandon it without second thoughts. Noted developer Mislav Marohnić admits that his view that “Git is simply too hard” is unpopular, a minority opinion.

To be intimidated by Git is counterproductive. Most of the issues that emerge when using it are unlikely to be as overwhelmingly complicated as some think they are. For example, when encountering the common error “fatal: remote origin already exists” upon running the git add remote origin command, the solution is simply to check if the “origin” handler already exists. If it does exist, running the command “git remote remove origin” will get rid of it and restore normal functions. The handler may also be renamed, or its pointing URL updated.

If the errors are appearing more frequently and in greater numbers or instances, organizations can use an automated troubleshooting solution that provides advanced features including in-depth visibility, change intelligence, and insights into service dependencies. This solution can serve as a single source of truth (SSOT) for all troubleshooting processes and ensure greater efficiency. It takes away the unnecessary complications in processes and supports more efficient development and releases.

Building strong development teams

Git can be great for recruiting and nurturing strong development team members. On GitHub, in particular, developers readily present their credentials and accomplishments together with details on their website projects, open-source development projects, and repositories forked. Companies can look for remarkable talents by examining the candidates’ involvement with Git.

Also, Git is a great place for honing junior developers to become strong and confident development team members. It provides a safe and empowering environment to work on projects, where members do not have to be worried about messing up or crashing a system. They can freely proceed with their experiments and pursue novel ideas that can help them enhance their skills in the long term while developing something that can potentially become big in the future.

Enriching design skills and experiences

Another excellent advantage of Git is its featured branches or feature branch workflow, which is highly suitable for rapid prototyping. With this, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designers get a sandboxed environment where they can try out their ideas and look back at the chronology of the project.

Git is primarily built for developers and IT teams, but designers benefit from it as they create mockups and prototypes that would be submitted to developers. It is useful in implementing design changes to a product that is already being produced or has already been launched. Additionally, Git helps in providing guidance to developers regarding the development of specific design elements crucial to creating good user experiences. Also, Git can create a shareable workflow for the benefit of both the developer and design teams.

With Git, designers and developers can see all the changes and progress they have made over the life cycle of the project. They can see how everything will look and play out without having to worry about breaking existing product functionalities. This sandboxed environment is a great way to present UI/UX project updates to the management or stakeholders.

Enhancing marketing and product management

Git has marketing and product management benefits, which are based mainly on its ability to speed up releases and enable developers to work faster and respond more quickly to changes. With Git’s collaboration-supporting features and ability to plug into other systems, companies can rapidly make their products available to clients or customers and allocate more of their time and effort to other important tasks.

The shorter development cycles afford more time for marketing initiatives and ample opportunities to discuss product changes or explain new product features to a broader target audience. At the same time, since Git supports version incrementing, companies also have the option to focus their marketing efforts on specific feature rollouts. They do not have to wait for feature upgrades or updates to be accumulated first and then rolled out in a single major release. This flexibility in marketing software products is definitely an advantage for organizations making do with their budgetary, time, talent, and other resource limitations.

On the other hand, Git provides product management benefits because of the frequent client feedback. Since product releases can be done frequently and for specific feature updates or function upgrades, development teams do not have to wait for weeks to get actual user reviews. They get to promptly troubleshoot problems and improve functions based on user feedback.

Providing competent customer support

Software customers are meticulous when it comes to technical assistance. They know they are supposedly dealing with technical experts, so they expect nothing but top-notch customer support. Git allows companies to provide the kind of pre- and post-sales customer service customers are expecting by providing a comprehensive reference for everything that has happened with the development of a software product.

Git streamlines the development cycle, so bug fixes and enhancements are well-documented and promptly implemented. In turn, the software vendor can easily inform its customer service arm on what they need to know about their software products. This allows them to be knowledgeable enough to address customer questions proficiently and to resolve customer concerns satisfactorily.

Improving experiences for everyone

The numerous advantages and benefits of Git are not exclusive to developers or development teams. Businesses engaged in software development and sales, as a whole, can see palpable improvements in their operations with Git integrated as part of their development process. The efficiency this popular version control system provides also has the advantage of reducing operating costs and cutting down processes that slow down product development and release.

Why Businesses Should Be Using Git for Software Development and Releases
Brian Wallace

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