Today, there are plenty of different technologies making our life better, faster, and more comfortable. Every day talented teams of IT developers build brilliant new projects and implement them making the world a more convenient and pleasant place to live in.
However, it’s not only the groundbreaking technology that matters. It’s not just the “what?, but also the “how? that makes a piece of software – a new app, a website, a payment gateway etc. – exciting and successful for both the owner and the customer.
That’s why developers started paying more attention to project management methodology.
In mobile app development, Agile with its Scrum and Kanban subtypes is the most popular framework.
Last year, 71% of companies reported to use them, as these methodologies have proved effective in project management for many reasons.
All of them are more or less focused on assigning different roles to the team’s members.
They also promote flexible management of specific tasks in total accordance with the clients’ wishes.
In this article, we’ll focus on using Scrum in mobile application development.
We will also cover its advantages and explain why it makes sense to implement it in your company.
1. Improving time management
Dealing with strict deadlines is probably one of the biggest challenges for a developer.
Scrum, an effective Agile methodology for mobile application development, can solve the time management problems.
It introduces a framework of so-called “sprints – short time periods, dedicated to different steps in app development. They usually vary from 1 to 4 weeks, depending on the startup and the team.
What is more, Scrum offers an efficient system of workload traffic control. The first step of task fulfilment in Scrum is defining the product backlog – a list of subtasks that should all be done to achieve the result.
The team works with a Product Owner – a person who acts as a mediator and consultant between the client and the team. He has his vision of the future app. Together, they evaluate the solution provided for each step of product development.
This system includes sprint planning and daily meetings, as well as retrospectives and assessment of any challenges that may occur.
In Scrum for mobile app development, the roles and tasks are divided in such a way that all of the members get roughly equal amounts of work.
Most of the developers working with Scrum create special internal systems, which evaluate the workload of each team member to improve time management and an overall level of organisation of the team.
2. Increasing adaptability
We have already mentioned the position of the Product Owner – the manager, crucial for seamless work in the Scrum framework. He or she supervises the job done and makes all the intermediary results meet the client’s wishes.
It’s achieved with the help of user stories – lists of current requirements to the team, which are then turned into backlogs.
The Product Owner is also the person who usually represents the interests of key stakeholders (clients, testing users, customers etc.) His or her work is strategic, not tactical so that it can ensure the final product is the one the client needs even if there were many spontaneous changes in the course of work.
These changes, however, are almost inevitable, and that leads us to the next benefit of working with Scrum.
3. Every step control
If you are a really careful and goal-oriented person and want to create your application, then you should look for a team that is ready to implement Scrum methodology in mobile app development.
It gives you the ability to control every step of product development, quickly discuss it and make modifications, and have a full picture of how your app is being built. That reduces risks significantly, as well as allows all the people involved in the process to understand their roles and carry out their work much better.
This and other factors make Agile driven projects 28% more successful than average. What is more, the increased level of task and network understanding brings us one more serious advantage of Scrum methodology: perfect teamwork.
4. Promoting teamwork
If the team wants to choose Scrum for mobile app development, it should be ready to work on the inside communication, because it’s one of the core foundations of any Agile methodology. All the people involved in product development should realise how important it is for business to share the visions and results of their work, cooperate, and value each other.
This way of workflow organisation requires a lot of self-management and retrospective skills since the importance of each team member also brings about great responsibility.
Each person working on the project should understand that the other team members depend on him or her heavily. Thus, every team member has to organise their work in such a way that the others will only profit from it.
If this is done, then any Scrum team will operate much better and faster than the one without a clear internal structure.
5. A multitude of efficient scrum tools
Finally, Scrum methodology may be one of the most effective approaches due to a wide variety of tools available on the market.
Depending on your team and task, and also on your financial capabilities, you can choose any service. These range from the ones that are free and simple to use, such as Scrumwise, Taiga or even Trello, to the giants like Wrike and Atlassian Jira that – the most popular Agile-based tools.
Both of the latter will offer you customisable workflow, discussions in tasks and their prioritisation, various capacities for assessment and report, as well as a high level of security and reasonable pricing.
How to utilise Scrum
Implementing Scrum methodology in your team’s work with a powerful tool may seem quite easy, but there are still certain challenges.
For the process to run seamlessly, you should follow some necessary steps:
- distribute all the important roles in your team, including Scrum Master and Product Owner;
- create the product backlog based on user stories;
- plan the sprints and discuss them with all stakeholders;
- organise the report and assessment system for each of the sprints;
- be ready to manage constant changes and try to improve your product at each step of its development.
Please note that just like with any other project, utilising Scrum methodology may bring you some issues – the overwhelming variety of tools and different interests of stakeholders are the most popular causes for that.
Still, good communication skills and a desire for constant improvement will solve all of them.
Bottomline
All in all, it’s no surprise that Scrum appears to be one of the most popular and successful project management methodologies nowadays.
It can make your teamwork more convenient and efficient, which is better for clients, users, and developers.
If you feel inspired by this article and are thinking of creating a mobile application with a team that successfully operates using Scrum methodology, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our professionals will be ready to help you in word and deed.
