Mobile development can be an arduous and tedious process filled with potholes and pitfalls. Avoiding these obstacles is critical if you want your app to reach its successful end.
There are a few strategies that you can employ to keep your hire the right team development team and keep it focused and working. Something that is usually glossed over by young app development companies is the method with which you will manage your teams.
The agile principles, such as they are, provide an in-depth guide on how to develop successfully. After making numerous blunders and mistakes the agile creators understand that there were a few things that must happen for an app to be truly successful.
Adopt agile principles
What makes an app agile? What makes a company lean? Is it diet and exercise? Unfortunately, not. Agile is a mindset that shapes how we develop software. Agile is about maximizing efficiency and effectiveness through continuous development and conversation.
More simply: agile is about getting things done and cutting out the excess fat. Develop software, review, improve the software. Rinse, wash, repeat. Software is developed in cycles (e.g. version 0.1, version 2.0, et cetera). Study the agile manifesto to learn more about how you can implement the methodology into your development processes.
Consider going remote
Fax machines, internet telephony, and email — oh my! We’re surrounded by communication tech. Want to assemble a team without taking out a loan on your home? Easy — go remote. With the power of the internet, any and everyone can collaborate.
Certain apps help tremendously with asynchronous communication. Namely, Slack and cloud-based project platforms like Trello. There are preselected pools of remote developers on freelancer websites and marketplaces.
Inject some passion into your project
All work and no play make Jack a very dull boy. A creepy line from a horror movie and a truism about mobile development. Without some passion and energy, your team is going to fall asleep at the keyboard. Keep them motivated by keeping the mission of your project alive.
What’s in it for the app developers? What do they want to make? How can you incorporate their feedback? These are all great questions to ask yourself as development chugs along.
Connect with users
To make the streamlined process amount to a successful product you will have to reach out to your audience and ask for their feedback and help. Consumers are more than willing to lend their opinion on your product and how it could be improved. This feedback will streamline your mobile development process by giving it a discrete set of goals.
Don’t just connect with your developers — become friends with your customers. Building a brand is all about relationships. Level up your social stats by engaging with the community, asking intriguing questions, accepting developers to submit guest posts and commenting on constructive feedback. Mindless email marketing and trite tweets, begone. Real conversations with your customers, henceforth.
The agile principles focus on teamwork and open communication so that everyone stays informed and productive. Too often, businesses will throw traditional management at a new development team only to be hit with roadblock after roadblock. Avoiding these is imperative and can be accomplished rather quickly by using the agile method.
What’s more, is that most of these great work can be accomplished online or over telephonic devices. Most companies have been toying with remote work for over three decades but with the internet powers of today, remote work has become a breeze.
Explicitly, remote work is now more viable and better suited to the working conditions of today than any other form of employment. This saves the company money and saves the worker precious time that they can spend with their family.
Co-working and cooperating are much simpler now with apps like Slack and Trello that make communicating a breeze. However, that is not to say that going remote will fix all of your problems but it could streamline development in a very real way.
Streamlining development is also about getting your team members involved in a way that fuels them with passion. As a team leader. Always be involved and present during the development process to keep your developers engaged and productive.