The people you hire are not only the ones you surround yourself with from 9-5 daily, but they are contributing factors to the success of your business. Whether you’re building an internal team or looking to outsource some work, the talent on your teams will heavily influence the quality of your business operations. Your company’s decision to hire internal software designers and engineers or hire a software development company most likely came from a long, thoughtful agreement aimed at propelling your business forward. However, teams don’t always end the same way they started, and you might feel the need to fire your app development team.
If any of the following signs applies to your business, then you should fire your app development team and find a better option to meet the goals and needs of your project. Embracing an “out with the old, and in with the new” attitude by bringing on a new team can facilitate fresh ideas to accomplish your business objectives.
1.) There Isn’t Enough Visible Progress
When you hire an app development team, it’s important to remember that you’re an integral part of the team. Your feedback and communication with the team is crucial. If you’re not receiving weekly updates or you haven’t seen any progress on your app, chances are it’s not on schedule.
Throughout the entire software development life cycle, the team you hired and your business should work closely to maximize efficiency and make the most out of an iterative, agile development process. With weekly updates, your business can provide feedback and suggest additional changes before it becomes too difficult and costly to do so.
Typically, the design team can get started immediately after the kickoff meeting. By the end of the second week, your team should have already had an initial design review. By the end of the first month, the design direction should be fleshed out and wireframes and prototypes should be underway.
2.) There’s No Detailed Process
The app development process follows a standard of code that should be recorded by the team. These records should also be available to you at anytime. If the team cannot provide you with these details, you can assume that their processes weren’t documented. Adhering to a coding standard is a fundamental business practice that whoever you hire for the job needs to uphold.
Your developers should also be well-versed with an agile approach to developing your app to ensure their team is focusing on the continuous improvement of your product.
3.) There’s a Lack of Proper Communication
Just like any business relationship, there should be clear expectations for consistent and purposeful communication. At the very beginning of this working relationship, daily interactions are essential to mapping out the functions of your app. This gives you time to develop your overall strategy alongside the team. If your team, either internal or external, is not being responsive and the lack of communication is hindering the success of your project, it’s time to fire your app development team.
If possible, face to face meetings are a great way to address problems and ask questions. This may be more difficult if you decided to outsource the project to a software company, but as long as you make sure the communication remains consistent, you shouldn’t have a problem. If something looks or feels like a red flag, it should be addressed immediately. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
4.) There’s No Developed Plan
After laying out the roadmap to your project, the team should have a clear idea of the scope of work. The scope of work servers as the “blueprints” for your app. By looking at the scope of work, designers and developers should have a clear understanding of the app’s functionality and its purpose. Just like an architect analyzes blueprints, designers and developers should pay a lot of attention to the initial discovery, strategy, and planning phases to create a detailed project roadmap.
If the team you hired cannot give you an estimated project time frame, the team might not be as qualified as you previously thought. The designers and developers should understand how long each step will take. Of course, the estimated time may change throughout the course of the project as new details and information are uncovered, but this is why communication is so important.
5.) There’s Not Enough Involvement
A qualified app development team should be actively involved in the entire software development process. They should provide their own feedback and recommendations, and they should take all of your feedback into account. An involved and engaged team will provide advice, support, and guidance from the moment you present your idea to the day that the app is launched.
You might have a great idea in mind, but you’re not sure where to start. Some ideas may need to be fine-tuned and certain characteristics you had dreamed about may have to be left out. Once the best approach and technology stack is determined, there may be limitations that you have to accept. This is where an involved app development team can add tremendous value to the initial stages of your software development project.
6.) There’s a Lack of Experience
Inexperienced teams can be the reason you’re spending a lot of money and getting no results. It’s not uncommon for software development agencies to promise their senior employees, but then hand off the project to junior, less experienced designers and developers. If the process is unorganized and the developers seem lost, this is a huge indicator of when you should fire your app development team.
To avoid hiring an inexperienced team in the first place, you should ask if they have experience within your specific industry. Do they understand the value of your project? Have they completed similar projects recently? These are some questions you should ask right from the start to ensure that the team knows exactly what they’re doing. After all, you don’t want to hire a team that’s trying to learn how to do your project throughout the process.
7.) There’s No Transparency
If you’re left in the dark throughout the process, chances are your team is hiding something. To keep up to date with your project, you should know exactly how tasks are managed and which tools the development team is using.
Remember that all things regarding your project are your property. So, if the development team is restricting or limiting access to any tasks or tools, consider it a red flag. Your team should be as transparent as possible to prevent your project from getting derailed.
8.) There’s No Commitment to Your Deadlines
When planning out your project timeline, you should allot about 4-6 months for the app creation. In order for your app to be completed on time, your app development team will need to meet strict deadlines along the way. If they’re not meeting these deadlines, your launch date will get pushed back. Depending on the intricacy of the app, you might not be dead set on a certain date, but around the second or third month, a completion date should be more clear.
9.) There’s Not Enough Professionalism
Signs of a lack of professionalism can contribute to a lot of the problems mentioned above. An app development team that is consistently unprepared for meetings, missing deadlines, and not involved with your app clearly is not the right team for your project. You can gauge the team’s level of professionalism from the start. Pay attention to how they handle your relationship and how prepared they are during your kickoff meeting . If the team isn’t as passionate as you are about the app then you should fire you app development team and find the dedicated workers your business deserves.
10.) There’s No Connection With Your Team
Alongside all the nitty gritty of having the most suitable app development team, it’s also useful, but not totally necessary, to have a personal connection with your team. This allows for a smooth and painless software development process. You’ll be spending a lot of time working and solving problems with the team over the course of a few months. Let’s face it, no one wants to work with difficult and uncooperative people, so it helps to develop and nurture a positive relationship with your team.
Turn to a Passionate Team
Whether you have problems with your internal or outsourced development team, the first step is deciding if it’s time to find a better alternative for your project. Keep in mind that your end users expect the best work. So, it is important that the app your business creates presents a high functionality and positive user experience. In order to create your successful app, you’ll need to make sure you have the right team for the job.
If you decide to fire your current app development team or you’re looking for a new one, contact us for an initial meeting! We’ve helped a number of clients with website redesigns and mobile and web app design and development to boost their business. We’d love to help you transform your ideas into functional applications.
