Improve Your Software Project - Part Three: Next Level Enhancements

In this three-part series, I'll walk through some of the key things you'll want to do to become happier with your shiny (old) project. To give some concrete examples, I'll tie everything together by explaining how I refactored and enhanced the open-source Vonage Python SDK, a library that makes HTTP calls to Vonage APIs, but the principles apply to any kind of software project. The series covers enhancements that directly benefit the user, such as custom error handling and input validation, making the code more robust and user-friendly. It also discusses the importance of asynchronous code, tooling, automation, best practices for handing over a project to someone else, and setting up automated tooling. The final part focuses on handing over the project, including creating a seamless handover, documenting the state of the code, and writing a handover document that includes an overview of the codebase, how to get started with developing on the project, testing overview, work started but not finished, work planned to do, and anything else that's undocumented or non-obvious. The goal is to leave the code in a better state than you found it and make sure your successor can easily pick up where you left off.