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5 Tips for Accelerating Mobile Development

5 Tips for Accelerating Mobile Development

The mobile development process can be long and arduous, but you can easily navigate the choppy waters with a few tips. 

Rather than running headlong at the problem, stopping and creating a development roadmap will be best. 

Staying ahead of the trend is always best when possible, and a great way to start is to approach the development process from a UX-focused angle.

Here are some of the best tips for accelerating mobile development:

1. Take a UX-first approach

UX should always be the first consideration when designing a new mobile app. How the user interacts with the product will determine whether or not they will become customers. 

Your team should emphasise designing the product as if they would use it for the first time as an outside user.

By constantly critiquing the product through your customer’s eyes, you give it the best chance of success. 

2. Gather marketing research while you develop

Market research is something that should never really stop. During the app development process, it plays a critical role in defining the identity and target audience of the fully realised app. 

Active community engagement and surveying will keep your scope in check and your design on the move. 

Teams that are responsive to the desires of their community find development a much easier process as they already have a firm idea of the end user. 

Creating a link to your customer base will give your product life before it hits the market.

3. Get flexible with agile principles

12 Agile Principles

A great way to guarantee that your team stays cohesive is to include agile development principles, which seek to maintain a fluid development environment with dynamic responses. 

The agile principles emphasise communication and teamwork so everyone stays on the same page and is involved during development. 

This is especially helpful for development teams that must split off and work independently to prevent developers from creating isolation. 

4. Ask for help

All of this might seem like a lot, so it is recommended that all businesses ask for help in some capacity. 

Whether it’s experienced agile project managers who have been through this rodeo before or freelance developers who can code in a specific language, it is always a good idea to ask for help.

5. Leave room for improvement

A genuinely well-run development process will require your team to stay open to improvement. 

As the development cycle draws on new features and inefficiencies, new marketing trends and designs will present themselves. 

Keeping the process flexible will give your product the best chance of survival in the app market. Using the iterative process of agile and conducting continuous market research, your mobile development process will run at maximum efficiency.

The user experience has been shown to significantly impact whether or not a user will make a purchase. 

The UX approach focuses on how users interact with the application and each feature. If an app is wonderfully built but has poor UX, it will usually not perform well despite its quality. 

The principle is that no technology should exceed user interest. The project’s scope should never change; ideally, approaching through the user’s eyes can help keep things focused during development. 

Another critical thing is to conduct market research while in the development process.

During development, as your team becomes acquainted with its potential customer base, it will want to provide high-quality website development services and test ideas within the community.

This can be through direct forums, which provide excellent market research advantages for your audience, giving them a platform to speak to your company directly. 

It is also wise to pay attention to the other industry drivers' actions to see if any particular strategy or trend is beginning to surface. 

The way to view market research is the opposite of project scope. The marketing and visual design must be modifiable at the drop of a hat. 

How Great Mobile Developers Save Time

User Journey Mapping Mobile App Design Cost

Great mobile developers save time by embracing open communication, iterative development, and trusting their teams

Using agile management principles and creating a constant feedback loop saves mobile developers precious time by working only on the projects that work. 

They embrace Agile

Agile is the defacto philosophy to provide high-quality website development services and the philosophy of the entire tech industry. 

Agile developers focus on getting projects done within the budget and on time. Without sacrificing technical excellence, they cut out waste and welcome change.

Agile principles are shaped around lean precepts, prioritising effectiveness over sticking with a plan. 

Back in the day (in the nineties), many software projects failed because of a “cascade” paradigm, whereby software was created in a series of steps, the last step resulting in finished software.

Agile developers use a “cycle” paradigm, whereby working software is the only sign of progress. Software is built from the very beginning and then perfected through a series of cycles.

They listen to UX designers.

Eye Patterns In Ux Design

UX design is one of the most critical aspects of software design. When you engineer software, you collect many disparate parts, hoping the pieces fit and work well together. 

The measure of success is a working product that has as few errors as possible.

However, this isn’t the measure of success for the software itself. It must work, have few errors, and be easy to use.

Related:  Classifying Typography Styles: Definitive Guide

Customers are only interested in visual, easy-to-use, and convenient solutions. The user experience design of your app is fundamental as it is the most significant predictor of financial success. 

Developers who listen to UX designers save time and money by circumventing costly redesigns.

They appreciate feedback

Feedback is key. While we don’t always like to hear criticism, sometimes constructive criticism is vital to a project’s success. 

The best developers understand that constructive criticism can be a software specialist’s best friend.

Giving honest feedback is an art. Placating too much can lead to future problems, and nitpicking can destroy morale and degrade creativity. 

Expert app developers leverage feedback to boost efficiency and improve the development process. They don’t nitpick to brandish skills or to knock coworkers. But they aren’t silent about their concerns, either.

They trust the team.

Most importantly, great developers know that the development process goes best when everyone trusts each other. 

Micromanagement can suffocate a burgeoning team of developers and create issues where they would not be otherwise. 

Avoiding this means placing great trust in all teams, which usually inspires better work and greater productivity. 

Trust works to create more honest engagement and more cooperation, which speeds up development and limits errors. 

They aim for perfection but don’t require it.

Best Mobile App Designers In Belfast

Great mobile developers understand that no product is perfect and that a product that satisfies the needs of their customer base is better than a perfect product that nobody wants. 

Significant mobile development is about creating a system where your developers can flourish and satisfy your audience. 

Agile is a set of principles centred around teamwork and interactive development so that the product is constantly refined. 

A large part of deciding what does work within a product comes from the UX design. 

The UX design can significantly influence the product’s success by prioritising the customer’s experience against the features or specs. 

UX includes the responsiveness of the technology and the logic of the layout. 

If things are too confusing or difficult to use, the product will most likely fail, even if the technology is astounding. 

Great mobile developers consider UX designers’ considerations and the feedback from their fellow developers and customers into excellent accounts when deciding what to build. 

The iterative process will provide plenty of in-house critiques, but the most valuable critiques often come from the customers. 

Great developers know you must reach out to your customer base and engage them actively to understand your audience's wants. 

What good is a perfect product if it doesn’t have a place to land? 

How Exceptional Mobile Development Teams Work

Exceptional app developers use various design principles and constant customer engagement to create apps that speak directly to their consumers. 

Exceptional developers understand the value of agile principles and how excellent management can turn a project around. 

The agile method revolves around iterative development and open communication, emphasising cooperation. 

App development teams must understand the principles that bind them to their work and team. Significant app development can happen only with an open mind and a shared standard of practice.

They are agile all the way.

Agile Development Management

Agile principles are the guiding light in app development's deep, dark world. Melodramatics aside, without agile principles, all software life on earth would be kaput. 

Agile principles help software development teams avoid the pitfalls of complex project management. 

Agile principles help manage complexity by underscoring the importance of face-to-face communication, iterative improvement, and review cycles.

The best apps are made with the agile philosophy, through and through. And maybe some Zen Buddhism, too. Software development can try your patience.

They embrace new tech.

You’d be surprised how many tech companies don’t embrace new technology. Here, you are developing your code in HTML4 and CSS2, thinking you’re trendy with your fellow tech cohorts. 

No matter how future-proof you think a coding language, platform, or app function is, the truth is all fads fade, and all tech is constantly evolving.

The best app development teams leverage constant change instead of fearing it. By embracing new ways to create and share, these app teams avoid getting trapped in legacy technology.

They aren’t afraid of honest feedback.

Staying open to honest and direct feedback makes great teams better, and the best teams have a way of delivering feedback in nonabrasive and encouraging ways. 

Feedback is essential, but so is creativity, as it drives the development process forward in unique ways that will help the product stand out in the app market. 

They encourage creativity

Exceptional development teams understand that pair programming and broader cooperation are paramount in creating great development environments. 

Iterative development also leads them to embrace new technology to stay current and technologically advanced. 

While the entire development process should be road-mapped and held within boundaries to a degree, great app developers stay open to change or risk falling behind the competition. 

They don’t demand perfection. They keep their customers engaged. They prioritise UX without giving up on technical excellence.

UX design comes first.

Apps that are truly successful in the store always focus on the customer and their needs. Exceptional app companies know to focus on their UX design to make an app that lands with users. 

The UX of an app responds to the user and how easy it is for the user to navigate. The flow of the app, in general, is of more significant concern to great developers because they know that an app that is difficult to use is dead on arrival. 

UX design is typically found in attractive apps that focus on creating a memorable experience for the customer. 

Conclusion

The iterative development cycles allow the project to develop naturally without hindering its growth pattern. 

By communicating with the entire team and customer base, exceptional development teams can create exciting apps built to specific specs. 

Furthermore, maintaining review cycles can open the team to consistent improvement and constant conversation. 

Mobile apps that are unattractive or sluggish are often left on the shelf regardless of the quality of the technology inside. 

Apps fit into a strange blend of aesthetical fashion and technical function. That is why UX design is of such paramount importance that you should exchange functionality for more fantastic UX.

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Stuart Crawford

Stuart Crawford is an award-winning creative director and brand strategist with over 15 years of experience building memorable and influential brands. As Creative Director at Inkbot Design, a leading branding agency, Stuart oversees all creative projects and ensures each client receives a customised brand strategy and visual identity.

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