15 Reasons To Use Agile For Mobile Application

Thousands of mobile apps hit the market every day. Each required (or should have required), a carefully selected development methodology.

Well executed Agile software development methodology helps teams significantly improve the quality of their software at each release. The Agile process consists of short, time-boxed iterations known as sprints. Each sprint results in a working product.

As customer demand drives product development, companies can no longer afford to allow the process, procedure, and documentation to slow time to market. Such delays cost companies their competitive edge and ultimately, customers.

Waterfall vs. Agile

Before Agile, companies followed a more structured approach to mobile application development and testing. The approach, known as waterfall, carried projects through a preset sequence of steps from inception through completion. Each of these steps formed project phases, each of which consisted of a specific set of tasks. The waterfall approach, although effective, was process and documentation-heavy.

Agile software development minimizes, if not eliminates, these challenges.

15 Reasons To Use Agile For Mobile Application

1. Reduce Technical Debt

Agile software development helps keep technical debt to a minimum. Any defects, feature changes, or other maintenance tasks are added to what is known as a product backlog. The team reviews the backlog during each sprint planning session to determine what to address next. Thus, each sprint is a new opportunity to fix defects along with new feature development.

2. Reduced Risks

With ever-changing market requirements and trends, it may be really risky to launch your new application. Many times there are circumstances that market data that you have taken into consideration when developing your app go obsolete by the time you launch your app. The result is, however, the poor ROI and a doubtful future in the market. Agile is a tool that allows you to take the calculated risks while improving the market scope of your project.

3. Quality Product

It was common to test the software before launch, but with Agile, testing is integrated throughout every stage of development to ensure a quality end product. Continuous testing allows room for adjustments and can catch issues and bugs before they manifest.

4. Faster Time to Market

Sprints play a major role when working Agile. These set periods of time allow teams to deliver frequently and rapidly.

5. Rapid Development

The entire mobile app projects are divided into some smaller modules treated like independent sub-projects. These are handled by a variety of teams independently, with very little or in fact no dependency on each other. Everyone in the development teams has a very clear idea of what his or her resources will contribute to the overall development process. Every developer puts in their best efforts to complete their part in the mobile app development project, the result of which is an even more streamlined app development process with quick delivery.

6. Adapt to Change

Teams not only adapt to change in Agile but are also encouraged to embrace the practice. Agile acknowledges that customer needs change and that teams must be able to adapt. Working in time-boxed iterations means the team does not need to wait on a lengthy requirement change, review, and approval process. Any change or maintenance item is added to the backlog and allotted to an upcoming sprint based on priority and business needs.

7. Transparency & Alignment

Before each sprint, the entire team reviews validate, and agrees on which user stories to assign to the sprint. The developers, analysts, testers, and product owners work together to accomplish the items assigned to the sprint. The team meets daily to keep everyone on the same page. Throughout the sprint, each team member verifies each feature and works closely with the developers to ensure it meets the customer’s needs.

8. Improved Quality

Different from the traditional app development models, agile hardly test the app at the end of the development phase. Instead, it fosters the testing of every single module at a primitive level. This is something that lessens the risk of encountering a bug while quality testing of the entire project. It also assists mobile app developers in inspecting the app elements at each stage of the development process and making adjustments as required. This ultimately helps in delivering a higher quality of the services.

9. Flawless Project Management

While transforming the entire app development project into different individual modules, the agile methodology offers you the facility to manage your projects easily. You can assign the tasks to different teams and then decrease the discussions and dependencies at the inter-team level. You may also keep a perfect record of the activities performed on every little project. In such a way, make out if something is missing or not working as planned. With this, you can check the productivity of every individual and put your efforts into hiring into making more effective experts.

10. Higher Quality Product

Agile’s reliance on continuous integration (merging all developers’ working copies to a shared repository several times a day) gives developers the chance to test issues daily and address them immediately. Working on a product in small incremental releases ensures that each sprint results in a fully tested and working product.

11. Improved Customer Satisfaction

The agile mobile app development lays a strong emphasis on collaboration and people which eventually renders the development team with a chance to work with their clients closely and understand their vision. This also enables a team to check if both the parties are on the same level or not, permitting them to make the desired changes before getting on it further. This reduces the possibility of launching an app that hardly fulfills the idea behind and this brings in enhanced customer experience.

12. Stakeholder Engagement

For Agile software development to be successful, it is important for the product owner to be engaged throughout the process. Unfortunately, that level of engagement doesn’t happen in waterfall projects. Unlike waterfall, product owners are very active participants in Agile sprints. This level of involvement gives them a sense of ownership that encourages further engagement.

13. Predictable Delivery Dates

Waterfall projects revolve around lengthy project cycles that make it difficult for teams to predict a release date accurately. Agile iterations happen in time-boxed sprints that result in a working product at each release. Thus, the product owner knows that they will get new features at the end of every sprint.

14. Highest ROI

It is the agile methodology that lets the mobile application development organizations enter the market with the most basic app (MVP) and update it with each iteration. This actually makes it easier for the app owners to test their idea, collect the required data and insights, build up a brand presence and then deliver the best features as per the market trends and customer requirements. This helps the app owners as well as associated mobile app development companies to take the right decision for fetching better ROI in the market.

15. Less Development Cost

While every step is executed, planned, and well delivered, you can calculate the cost of making an app easily and therefore justify your app budget. Apart from this, if at any stage of development you feel the requirement to increase the app budget, you may easily do it with the agile methodology. In such a way, you can avoid leaving the project incomplete because of the required resources and funds.