4 signs you need a technical audit of your web application

The quality of your IT products: web applications, mobile applications, software, websites, etc., is strongly linked to the success of your business.

From experience, we have identified situations in which a technical audit of the application or web project is highly recommended – or even necessary – in order to guarantee the continued sustainability and success of your projects.

A technical debt that is allowed to grow and accumulate is also and above all a growing cost and debt. Integrating a technical audit into its annual roadmap is a precaution and a necessary step for saving money and ensuring a smooth future for any company.

Below are four scenarios that indicate you should undertake a technical audit of your IT assets.

Case n° 1: The technical leader leaves the team

It’s not uncommon to have your technical leader leave your team, or that a number of team members leave in short succession. This can happen for any number of reasons.

When team members depart, important know-how and knowledge of your application leaves with them.

The members of the remaining team will have to get down to compiling and coming to terms with all the information that is left, and also to go about reclaiming the information that is missing. They will need to have specific skills, knowledge and resources to do this successfully.

It is in this context that carrying out a technical audit is really beneficial for a team and a company. It’s extremely important to avoid at all costs a scenario where no action plan is put in place following departures.

Case n° 2: Updates to frameworks and libraries have not been done for years

Faced with a situation of immobility and blocked code updates, it is important not to wait too long to react. If you find out that the last major code update to your software was made years ago, a technical audit is most definitely required.

Updates should normally be performed regularly. But in reality, it often happens that this is not the case. If you find yourself with a large volume of updates to perform all at once, we recommend technical auditing. This will help you prioritize corrective and maintenance actions and streamline the process.

Case n° 3: You no longer know when the last technical audit of your application took place

This happens more often than we might like to think. Ask yourself the question and answer it honestly. This is even more important if you realize that you have never done a technical audit at all.

If your last audit was a long time ago, then the data it produced is now obsolete. In order to maintain its health, an application or web project should be subject to regular audits. This will allow you to always have a clear idea of ​​the technical debt of your application or software, and will allow you to better strategize your future decisions and vision.

Case n° 4: Technical documentation is obscure or even non-existent

This scenario tends to be the Achilles heel of most technical teams. It can be very difficult and laborious to keep technical documentation up to date. In many cases, it doesn’t even exist.

Developers tend to not be very fond of documentation, despite the practice being really profitable. Documentation can be used to quickly resolve technical problems encountered within an application. In addition, when new developers join the team, having access to up-to-date technical documentation will save the new developers and the team as a whole considerable time in explaining technical details.

To stay up to date and to regularly asses the quality of technical documentation, auditing remains the only effective solution.

Our technical teams undergo regular training to stay up to date on good practices in web development. Do not hesitate to contact us if you think you need a technical audit or if you want to take stock of the technical health of your application.