With few companies in the UK containing a fully fleshed-out mobile development team of their own, it’s becoming increasingly commonplace for companies to outsource their product development to an external development agency, but it can often seem like a daunting process. We have put down a few top tips of what to look out for when selecting an external agency to partner with.
When selecting this agency, there are a variety of skills and systems that, ideally, you should to be aware of before settling on your chosen development team and agency. At Roller, for example, we pride ourselves on having a fully integrated team of front and back end developers, both web and application developers, meaning that we have the right resources for any project that comes our way.
Roller MD, Martin Sandhu, shares his thoughts on the most important skills your development team should possess, and what he believes makes the Roller development team so successful:
‘The development team at Roller takes a solution first outlook. Our ethos is to ‘solve problems using technology’ which allows the team to be agile in its approach. As a business we are not fixed on a specific development stack, it is our mission to explore and investigate the best solution for the relevant brief. This evokes freedom to innovate and provide the most optimised solution for our clients. At Roller, it is embedded into our departments to work collaboratively and this has provided incredible results across the work we produce. Our UX, Product Design, development and testing departments are initiated into the project at the very beginning and work in conjunction with each other throughout the entire process. This team first outlook allows transparency, agility, efficiency and consistency within the product development cycle, giving clients the best possible ROI for the future.’ - MD of Roller Agency, Martin Sandhu
When it comes to the development of your product, your mobile development team is going to be essential in the success of the project. But what specialist technical skills should they have? Which methodologies should they use for product development? What is the best communication method for you and your team? We’ve shared a few key points to look out for that will make your outsourcing experience a positive one:
Well Balanced Team
You need to make sure that the team you’re outsourcing to has a well balanced set of developers with different capabilities. For whatever your proposed solution requires, it’s important to understand exactly what your chosen development team can action, from the initial design of the build to the finishing touches and launch. For example, if your company planned to create an native cross-platform (iOS and Android) application for to best suit your customers, the mobile development team you work with would need to contain the right range of front and back end developers with experience in Swift, Java, etc... as well as a good quality UX designer. However, if you decide to follow up your first generation app with a marketing website or further work to expand your web presence, your development team should be able to meet your new requirements - saving you the time of outsourcing different elements of your development to different teams in different companies.
Transparent Communication Processes and Tools i.e. Slack
As work with your mobile development team begins, their method of communication must be one that is easily integrated and accessible for you and your team to interact with them. Communication tools such as Slack is a great way we continuously provide and receive updates, share progress reports and provide feedback to your team, to help you oversee the work is that being carried out. Not only does this allow you to work closer with your development team, it also helps to give you the best idea of when sections of work will be completed, which will help hold them to the project delivery timelines. You have the ability to speak directly to the project lead, and the individual developers, asking questions, raising issues and delivering any necessary feedback in a consistent and time-efficient manner, and any team that encourages this process is promoting a healthy client-facing relationship.
Unified Approach to Development and Project Management
One of the most important process that your chosen development team can follow is their use of a product development methodology. Utilising systems such as Agile, Scrum and Kanban highlights the agreed process of development that your team will work to, allowing you to pre-emptively understand each section or ‘sprint’ of development, and to understand where each stage of development is in the timeline. These processes will help the development team to create a smooth and practical style of working, that works to suit their schedules, undoubtedly benefitting your end product.
(To find out more about the different varieties of methodologies available, we recommend taking a look through this resource: https://www.smartsheet.com/agile-vs-scrum-vs-waterfall-vs-kanban)
Version Control
In terms of the technical approaches to the build of your product, ideally the mobile development team you decide to use to outsource should be using Version Control throughout their build process. This file management and adaptation system is one that greatly aids a design process in mobile, as it allows multiple developers to work on the same branch of code, without any conflict, and keeps a secure log of process throughout the build. The use of this system illustrates exactly how your team will be working, the changes they have made, and which stage of development they are reaching in their timeframe - helping you, as the client, to easily track their progress. However, this isn’t the only desired tracking and logging feature your team should be applying…
Progress Tracking
Using systems such as GitHub or JIRA, your mobile development team should realistically be tracking their own progress in accessible and shared programmes that you can have full oversight of. Whilst the progress logging feature can benefit their development as an internal team, giving each member an insight into the work completed by their teammates, there are many features designed to benefit the client, particularly during the testing stages. Allowing you to register bugs, issues and problems with your product during this phase gives you an easy and time-efficient way to communicate your requirements to your team, and to actively monitor their progress throughout the fix.
Stand Ups
The implementation of Stand Ups, and particularly client-inclusive Stand Ups, is another great example of how to detect a valuable development team, as they provide essential communication at regular points throughout the mobile development process. Being given the opportunity to catch up with, feed information to and receive updates on your product’s progress is crucial to a success and smoothly-run production. Not only is the internal team given the opportunity to discuss, face-to-face, any issues that might be occurring throughout development, but the external operators, i.e. you, can feed your own input into these daily or weekly meetings. This aids both the product development, as it keeps the entire development team up to date and information, and your relationship with the development team as work continues.
Upon hiring the right mobile development team, as CEOs, your needs should feel met, and be reciprocated with positive and innovative ideas for product development and continual improvement. It’s important to feel that your end product has been placed into safe and reliable hands, and that any necessary scaling of that product can be carried out easily and effectively. It can sometimes seem like a time consuming process to outsource work to an external mobile development team to handle the next step of your company’s evolution, and there will always be pros and cons of doing so either way. Some of the best technology and the most successful product development projects happen in partnership with a creative technology agency so it’s worth taking the leap.
If you’re looking to secure a reliable and innovative creative technology development team for your next big project, or if you want to know more about the Roller processes and approaches, please get in touch at [email protected].
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://rolleragency.co.uk/blog/key-skills-mobile-development-team-ceos/