Hiring an Agile Team: The Main Benefits for Custom Software Development
Hiring an Agile software development team gives you a possibility to reduce expenses and time to market (TTM) and receive a higher app or website quality. Encompassing various iterative and lightweight methods to make digital products, the Agile methodology lies on four pillars: team cohesion, ease of changes, ongoing functionality delivery, and close cooperation between the client and an IT partner.
When applying Agile, everyone in the team has the required skills to perform the assigned tasks and is aware of project progress. An IT company provides an environment for specialists to organize an effective software development pipeline.
In this post, we will compare traditional and Agile teams to help you find the best model for the software project you plan next.
Traditional vs Agile team
An Agile software development team is self-organized and can easily adapt to permanently revised and updated requirements based on client comments. Unlike a conventional approach, Agile focuses on frequent releases throughout a project, customer feedback, and learning.
In this model, the entire team works together to address issues while the scope of activities is planned for each sprint separately. It is worth noting that methodology relies more on people and high-quality software rather than tools and documentation.
The main benefits of Agile project management
1. Improved time to market
Reduced TTM is among the key advantages of an Agile team. Following the Agile approach, software engineering firms set up a more effective app development process, in which every professional receives their own tasks, has the necessary expertise, and is aware of everyone’s activities. A project manager establishes timelines, monitors task statuses, and controls the project’s progress.
Thanks to close cooperation with the client and raised productivity, an IT partner makes a software solution faster. With frequent value delivery, you can get the early results, for instance, a prototype or a minimum viable product (MVP), several weeks/months faster compared to a traditional model. As a consequence, you will cut either costs or time to market.
Using Agile, we create a user interface (UI) / user experience (UX) design within 1 month and an MVP in 3–4 months.
2. Frequent functionality delivery
In conventional methodologies like Waterfall, the client provides a technical specification and then waits until the solution is completely ready to validate the outcome. If the customer is satisfied, the product is released on the market.
When applying the Agile approach, the team delivers value every 2–3 weeks and demonstrates the result of each stage to the client. Prior to the project’s start, IT professionals estimate the scope of work, create a list of tasks, divide it into multiple iterations, and set deadlines.
3. Effective cooperation
A traditional approach implies delegating software functions to an IT partner, where the client is not engaged in the development workflow. At the same time, project requirements are predefined and detailed, as well as remain unchanged.
After software engineers create a digital product, the company verifies compliance with a technical specification. So, this model is more about following instructions. Agile, in turn, relies on ongoing cooperation between the client and an IT service vendor.
Since new functionality is implemented on a frequent basis, the client can review the outcome and give feedback after each iteration. Designers and developers make changes accordingly, this way creating a system that fits needs and preferences. Thus, strict detailed requirements are not a priority and can be revised as the project progresses.
4. Ease of introducing changes
When applying a conventional approach, an IT partner may need about a year or more to build, test, and deploy a fully-fledged system. However, when the company receives the product, it may turn out that some things could have been done in a better way.
Additionally, a similar app might have been released before yours and already gained recognition, empowering you to revise the concept of your project. In both cases, software engineers will have to introduce a lot of changes, which will take time and effort.
On top of that, this will lead to extra expenditures and bureaucracy issues associated with updating a technical specification. In the Agile model, the software development process is adjusted to project goals.
How our team uses the Agile approach
Here at Surf, we employ Agile best practices such as Scrum and pair programming to receive the highest quality. Following each 2–3 week sprint, we showcase the outcome to the customer, gather feedback, and then modify the solution accordingly. As a consequence, we develop a system that aligns with your purposes and expectations.
To allow the client to try out new functionality, we make a demo, for instance, a web app on the staging server. Furthermore, our IT specialists constantly share product screens or pages to demonstrate intermediate results.
In addition, we conduct regular 15-minute team meetings to plan the work scope and discuss the necessary issues such as task statuses, deadlines, etc. With the aim to ensure workflow transparency, we send daily reports to the client through video/audio calls or during in-person meetings.
As for real-life examples of using Agile, let’s consider how we created a mobile finance application for the first neobank in Pakistan. When building the project, we employed Scrum, which enabled us to establish successful cooperation between our and the bank’s teams and suggest proactively changes to the product.
After the end of each iteration, we submitted app builds to the customer and collected feedback. In-person and video meetings helped us shorten TTM, since communication and decision-making were automated.
How do you hire a trusted Agile development team?
To find a reliable Agile software development team, it is crucial to take into account the following things:
- Ratings. To estimate the trustworthiness of an IT service vendor, you should check out ratings on specialized B2B platforms, like GoodFirms, Clutch, DesignRush, AppFutura, WADLINE, and others.
- Testimonials. Typically, the websites of software engineering firms include client reviews.
- Experience. When looking for an Agile dev team, you should visit the portfolio of a potential IT partner and the services rendered.
When you reach out to a custom software development company, pay attention to how promptly IT experts respond to you and whether they understand your business-specific objectives. You should also clarify if the agency provides regular reports and access to time tracking/project management systems.
Final words
The Agile approach offers plenty of benefits, from improved TTM to flexibility to make changes. By following Agile best practices, we deliver quality software solutions that fully meet the needs and expectations of our clients. It is worth noting that Agile is especially suited for small and medium-sized projects where there are no detailed requirements.
