How do microservices enhance application development?

Microservices enhance application development primarily by allowing for faster development cycles. This architectural approach breaks down applications into smaller, independent services, each of which can be developed, tested, deployed, and scaled individually. This means that development teams can work concurrently on different microservices without waiting for other parts of the application to be completed. As a result, teams can rapidly iterate, deploy new features, and respond quickly to changes in user requirements or market conditions. This agility contributes significantly to the overall efficiency of the development process.

In contrast, using a single programming language may simplify development in some contexts, but it doesn't inherently speed up development cycles. Centralizing data storage is more associated with monolithic architectures, where all components share the same database. This can actually introduce bottlenecks. Lastly, relying heavily on manual processes would slow down development and contradict the efficiency benefits that microservices aim to provide, particularly when automated deployment and continuous integration practices are encouraged in microservices architectures.