The Beat Goes On: Finding the Best Application Development Partner

Just as a dance is only as good as the beat, your software product is only as good as the relationship you have with your application development partner. That relationship relies on more than just the initial vetting process. Setting the tempo for your relationship from start to finish requires involvement. 

Once you move forward with your chosen development partner, keep in mind that being actively involved in the process not only allows for the team to create a software product that meets your needs but can avoid major delays and roadblocks. Rule of thumb? Don’t dump and ditch after your discovery meeting hoping that things are in good hands.

In our past articles Shall We Dance? and Tango, Not a Limbo we touched on the importance of communication, transparency, and honesty. Each one contributes to maintaining a steady rhythm of development actively moving forward.

Keep On Keeping On

When you find your development partner, you should keep in mind that being actively involved in the process whether you are hands-on or by proxy through a representative from your business is important. 

Your development partner will need direction and guidance as your software product evolves as they may only possess a surface understanding of what your business needs are. There will be tests and questions along the way; no one knows your business like you or your internal team.

To help prepare you for the journey ahead keep these questions in mind when discussing the project with your potential development partner:

• What Quality Process do they follow - unit testing, manual testing, end-to-end testing, or integration testing?
• Do you have internal milestones that you need to meet? Planning for solid communication to relay those important dates to the development team so that they are aware of those goals.
• Do you need to have a daily, weekly, or monthly call? If so, make sure you communicate those needs, be flexible, but make sure to keep to it. There will be unavoidable delays as your software comes to life, however, don’t allow a call to be the cause of not moving forward.
• If you bought a bucket of hours, how are those hours applied to each sprint? Consider what the required phases or sprints are and how the project is broken down ensuring phases are completed.
• Who on your internal team needs to be included in communications and how will you handle that? Should certain people attend the meetings or calls?
• What tools are utilized to communicate updates? Do not be afraid to reach out to your potential developer company to ask what they use. Email is great, but many companies utilize specialized software to keep clients up to date and even assign client tasks that may include providing information or documents vital to developing your software.

The best rule of thumb is to always remember that your development partner is on your side. It’s a relationship that should last from conception to implementation, maintenance, and beyond. Because at the end of the day, it’s a dance that will be successful when both partners are in sync.

Clevyr builds cutting edge, scalable technology software solutions including artificial intelligence for IT operations, digital twinning, predictive analytics, and cognitive computing - plus much more! Check us out at clevyr.com or drop us a line at hello@clevyr.com.

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