A Mobile app development team is just as important as the app itself. So, before you decide to create an app for your company, put together a solid app development team.
That concise sentence, on the other hand, conceals layers and volumes of meticulous investigation and deliberation. What’s the best way to start assembling an app development team? Where do you look for app development experts who have the technical know-how, commercial acumen, and management savvy? Is it really necessary to have a team, and if so, how many? There are many unanswered questions. Let’s try to discover some answers.
An App Development Team’s Personnel
You may require additional developers or designers for your app, depending on its size and complexity. But, for the most part, a basic app development team should include the following individuals:
Project Manager:
A project manager can be compared to the conductor of a thrilling opera or the oil in a well-oiled machine. A project manager is the point of contact between you, the client, and the development team. He or she serves as a bridge between the design and development teams. A good project manager keeps the lines of communication open and lets everyone know what’s being done.
There are several key responsibilities that project managers need to handle, among them:
- Being the main link between the team and you in matters of communication
- Understanding your project and unique requirements
- conveying them to the development team
- Affording the development costs within your budget
- Adapting any changes to the initial app development plan
- Risks and issues management
- Maintaining quality and meeting deadlines
With such a versatile set of roles and responsibilities, it goes without saying that a project manager must possess stellar leadership skills and be well versed in communication, people skills, time management, diplomacy, and creativity.
Additionally, the project manager must be proficient in project management methodologies such as Agile, Waterfall, Scrum, Kanban, and more.
Questions to ask a project manager during an interview
So, when you’re looking for a project manager for your app, here are some questions you should ask to accurately assess their skills and capabilities as a project manager:
- What does your role as a project manager entail?
- What kind of leader are you?
- Have you ever worked on a project that didn’t meet its deadlines in terms of both time and money?
- Tell us about your favourite and least favourite projects.
- When a problem emerges, what escalation process do you take?
- What tools and approaches do you employ for project management?
- How do you deal with team disagreements?
- Have you ever had to deal with scope creep when working on a project? How did you pull it off?
- How do you deal with team members who are underperforming?
- Tell us about your most recent project.
When answering these questions, a project manager’s competence and confidence will help you evaluate if she or he is a good fit for your app development project.
User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX) Designer
You’ll need a designer once you’ve hired a project manager to assist you envision how your app will look and feel once it’s completed. You’ll need a designer to create a prototype for you to display to potential investors. A designer is required to show your developers what they must do. To make your app seem attractive and your consumers pleased, you’ll need a designer. In the end, you’ll need a fantastic designer.
Of course, a competent designer creates a complex user experience that allows the app to perform what your consumers want in the easiest way possible, with the fewest possible clicks, while also looking amazing. The designer is the one who adds magic to your app’s functioning, from concise and easy navigation to engaging and pleasant colours, layouts, and micro-interactions.
A competent designer pays attention to your instructions and generates user personas that are accurate. She then creates basic wireframes and user flows to show how the app goes from one screen to the next.
The next step is to create an app prototype, which is one of the most important aspects of app development. Before creating a single line of code, a prototype is the closest you can come to seeing your app in action. You can use this prototype to demonstrate the viability of your concept to potential investors.
Now that you understand how vital a UI/UX designer is to your app development team, here are some things to look for when hiring an expert designer:
- A penchant for aesthetics and creative thinking
- Proficiency in design tools such as Figma, InVision, and Sketch
- Current knowledge of UX research, wireframing, UI prototyping, and interaction design
- Some familiarity with coding to aid communication with the development team
- Experience working on a variety of apps, at least some of which are similar to yours
- A portfolio of excellent designs
That portfolio could be the most valuable asset here, as it will help you decide if this is the perfect designer for your app development team. You should, however, ask some probing questions to see if the designer is a suitable fit for your project. So, here they are:
Questions to ask your UI/UX designer include the following:
- What steps do you take to create a user persona, and how does that inform your design?
- What is one design problem you’ve solved that has benefited the user despite being scarcely visible?
- What role do you play in an app development team?
- What steps do you take to ensure a smooth transition from design to development?
- How do you deal with designer/developer disagreements for the user’s ultimate benefit?
- What are the most important elements to consider while creating for various user groups?
Those responses will provide you with enough information about the designer’s mind, inventiveness, and problem-solving abilities to determine whether he or she is the specialist you require for your app development team. After that, you can go on to the next crucial member of your team – the leader.
Developers for iOS and Android
Developers are the ones who make all of the designs and concepts come to life. They’re the ones who know how to programme and write the code that keeps the app running.
For designing and releasing an app, the two most popular platforms, iOS and Android, require different languages and technologies. This means that if you want to have both Android and iOS versions of your software, you’ll need two whole different development cycles. Both of these platforms are tremendously enormous markets, and launching a mission on one of them is a bad idea.
As a result, your team should include at least one iOS developer and one Android developer. You could choose to increase that number if your programme is larger and more complex.
Modern technologies, on the other hand, provide cross-platform solutions that allow you to create a single app and publish it on both iOS and Android, as well as other smaller platforms. If you go that path, you’ll need a developer who is familiar with cross-platform technologies such as React and Flutter.
There are always some components that need to be created natively for iOS or Android using a cross-platform developer to make the app more authentic. As a result, you may require a cross-platform developer that is familiar with iOS and Android, as well as actual iOS and Android developers on your team.
As a result, at least one Android and one iOS developer is required. You might also need to have an interview with a cross-platform developer, but that’s a topic for another day. For the time being, here are the characteristics to search for in a professional developer to join your app development team:
- To begin, you’ll need a developer with extensive technical knowledge. He or she must have worked on a variety of projects, at least some of which are similar to yours.
- Look for developers who have a strong knowledge base. This does not imply that you must hire exclusively MIT-trained software engineers. You might just as well hire a self-taught developer on the other end of the spectrum. Just remember to consider how important it is for them to understand the fundamentals of software development, such as languages, grammar, architectures, algorithms, and so on.
- Other talents are just as crucial as technical expertise. Look for developers that enjoy tinkering and experimenting. Those that are ready to learn new things, try out novel ideas, and offer value to the project distinguish between a decent app and a fantastic one.
- Look for people who are in charge. You require someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty. You’ll need someone who thinks outside the box, looks for ways to improve things, writes more succinctly, and increases efficiency.
- Seek for folks who are enthusiastic about coding. Coding is a difficult task that demands a great deal of patience, ingenuity, and dedication. You’ll receive cookie-cutter solutions if you don’t do that, and your app will suffer as a result.
That’s a big list of attributes to check, but you’ll need the proper people to put together a true team of professionals that can design a terrific app for your company.
Backend Programmer
A backend developer is in charge of all backend features such as server architecture, cloud storage, and operational logic. And there’s more. A backend engineer must have a strong technical understanding of backend procedures, as well as a lot of experience and good communication abilities.
A backend developer’s key tasks include the following:
- Providing a means for data to be exchanged efficiently. This includes securely storing data, showing it to the appropriate user, and keeping it secure in transit.
- Creating the operation logic that governs how the app works
- Using the correct APIs across all devices
- Creating the architecture and framework for an app
- Using integrated development environments (IDEs), databases, and collaborative tools
To get all of this done quickly, you’ll need a backend developer who knows Java,.Net, Python, Ruby, PHP, and other computer languages. They must also have sufficient knowledge with code versioning systems such as Git.
Quality Assurance Engineer
A quality assurance or QA engineer’s job is to ensure that an app works precisely what it’s supposed to do, with no errors, bugs, or problems, after it’s been produced (or sometimes while it’s being developed). A QA engineer evaluates the software after each iteration in modern agile development approaches that evolve in iterations. To keep the development on schedule and complete all phases on time, any bugs or potential problems must be recognised, reported, and corrected as soon as possible. As a result, the QA engineer’s work is critical to the success of your app development project.
A QA engineer’s main tasks include the following:
- Performing automatic and manual tests on a regular basis
- Keeping track of defects throughout the testing process
- Keeping track of test results and documenting tests
- Determine any potential hazards that users may encounter in the future.
- To assure timely release, develop testing processes and specify standards.
Examine QA engineers’ knowledge of testing technologies such as TestComplete, Selenium, and Robotium, as well as problem tracking systems such as Jira.
Conclusion
That’s right, here is a comprehensive guide to assembling the best app development company for your projects. Hiring app development specialists is a time-consuming process, but when done well, it can make all the difference in the final output. So don’t skimp on your research and make certain you hire the best personnel for the job.
After years of research and experience, the Yellow Strawberry has assembled a team of professionals. We’ve been collaborating for over a decade and have produced over 200 successful projects together. Apart from excellent apps, do you know what we’ve built? Great friendships! To learn more about what our team of app development experts can achieve for you, contact us today.
