When you choose a partner for the development of your mobile application, you are dependent on the performance of the development team to achieve your goals and your plan. Choosing your development team is therefore very important. This article will guide you to make the right decisions and hire the right team.

Creating a mobile application is, by nature and like all software development, a complex project, rarely complicated. The business environment is changing rapidly, functional requirements are changing, technology is evolving. This is what the Stacey matrix allows you to visualize. However, with a good team and the framework that allows them to express themselves, we can bring these projects back into the complicated zone. What are the skills, expertise or the right organization to optimize the productivity of a development team?

Many of our customers ask us what are the benefits of working with BAM rather than internalizing skills. To answer them, we try to better understand their business environments, their challenges, and the problem they want to respond to. You should know that for each situation or project, the answer is different. We have identified 5 organizational principles that meet the challenges of software development and that allow the team to perform.

#1 Form a multidisciplinary development team

A multidisciplinary team has all the skills needed to complete the tasks that lead to the success of the project, without depending on people outside the team. In specialized teams, operating in silos (design, back-end, front-end), if a developer is absent for a period of time, it is impossible to deliver a functional product. In an agile approach, this ensures the efficiency and productivity of the team and makes it possible to deliver much more quickly and continuously.

#2 Allow the team to be self-organized

Self-organization is the default behavior in a complex system. That's why agile methods encourage it and make it a good practice. A self-organized team is not managed by a central authority or an external element. It is all the more effective if it decides how to complete its tasks before executing them. It is those who implement and live the reality on the ground who make the best decisions.

#3 Have a business-oriented team

In V-cycle projects, the profession writes specifications, then they are developed, tested and finally accepted. Only at the end can business analysts and product managers provide feedback and adjustments on the functionalities developed. By allowing the business and developers to collaborate on a daily basis, we avoid this waste and we are moving towards a continuous deployment process with value delivered regularly for the user! So make sure that someone skilled in the business environment who is familiar with the business environment is part of the team. In agile methods, this person is the Product Owner.

#4 Get organized to give visibility

For a team to perform, first of all, good communication is necessary. This requires first of all a common language shared by the entire team and stakeholders. In addition, visual management, i.e. the display of a set of qualitative or quantitative visual indicators that make it possible to monitor the progress towards the success of the project, plays a key role. Make sure these metrics are updated to ensure total transparency within the team. This visibility is essential to the success of the project.

#5 Focus on quality

Make sure you choose a development team that is responsible for the quality of the product code. As a product manager, entrepreneur, or CEO, you don't have the skills to judge. On the other hand, you have the right to request the indicators that allow you to monitor it. For example, agree with the team on the definition of done, which is what the team is committed to in order to consider a feature complete. At BAM, the team provides visibility on the quality of the code produced every week by completing a technical agility charter.

With these 5 principles, you will eliminate a lot of complexity from a mobile project. They are not exhaustive and the feeling is also an important element. Meeting the team, discussing your ambitions or fears with them is certainly the best way to start a project.