Across stacks, platforms, and domains (e.g., eCommerce, fintech, healthcare, etc.), the engineering team can take on two software development types: greenfield and brownfield development. Each development type brings specific opportunities and challenges that require adapting various components and best practices of the development processes.
Greenfield
Characteristics
Greenfield development involves creating a system for a business domain and use case without existing code, i.e., starting from scratch. Beyond requiring a specific stack, the novel software might still have constraints, such as using specific dependencies (e.g., third-party services, libraries, etc.). However, the squad works on a clean slate where every part of the system must be defined and implemented.
Greenfield development usually occurs when a new business venture is set up, thus needs new software, or when an existing business opts to reimplement a new version of its existing software.
Opportunities
Working on a greenfield codebase brings the following advantages:
- Implementing the latest development patterns and best practices for the stack that the application is built on. The new codebase can leverage the latest proven patterns and tools.
- Developing the codebase using all the team’s development and code conventions, including [version control](/development/version-control/), [testing](/development/testing/), [localization](/development/localization/), and [documentation](/development/documentation/). As a result, the codebase can represent the best of what the engineering team can produce.
- Unencumbered and predictable development thanks to the total ownership of every part of the codebase. The team possesses an in-depth understanding of every aspect of the code, thus can guarantee the application fulfills all acceptance criteria and can more easily debug any issue that might occur.
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