The recent fall of Appster is a stark reminder to carefully choose your development agency. But how do you do that? And what do you do if you have to change developers mid-project?
At Putti, well over 50% of our work is picking up the pieces from a development partnership gone bad. By that I mean, taking on customers that have had an awful experience with other development houses.
Download Development Handover Checklist
For many a reason, the solution that they have had developed has not met their expectations. Often, time and cost are the initial blowouts or cause for alarm. Sometimes the project never gets delivered or when it is, the bloody thing doesn’t do what it’s supposed to. Varying quality or expectations of what is good is a very wide spectrum indeed when it comes to applications or web solutions. In this game the old adage of … “You get what you pay for…” is very true indeed!
Consider the analogy of building a house. If you used YouTube extensively and were willing, you could do the job and build your new home or maybe get a team of apprentices to do it… they have the tools, some experience and they are cheap. Or do you go for quality and employ a seasoned architect and a master builder to deliver a product to regulation and that exceeds your expectations?
It’s the same in software development. The only problem is that the industry is still young and there’s not a lot of regulation or hierarchy of quality that the building industry has. For this simple reason, before you choose your next developer, consider these questions:
- Show me your portfolio of work
Experience counts for everything in software development. Get examples of projects that relate to your specific requirements. It is also justifiable for bigger projects to request customer testimonials. Take the time to verify what they can do (rather than what they say they can!).
- Am I future proofed for growth?
This is a question of systems architecture. Good choices mean that you can scale with growth and not be slowed down when things take off!
- Am I future proofed against security risks?
There are always risks with software. Ask them if they have a security expert in-house? Also, do they have security and privacy policies to review?
- How important is the wireframing and mockup process?
Good development agencies spend time getting this right. Ask for examples so you can see the level of detail they go into. Pro tip: This is go or no-go decision time. If you have any reservations, STOP HERE!
- Is the development process transparent and does it include you?
It’s your project! You have the right to be a part of decision-making. The great developers want you close by for feedback and faster decisions. Alternatively, you can follow the sprint milestones and get access to the development environment – so you can be rest assured that things are happening according to plan.
It pays to do your homework as choosing the right development partner from the start is critical to your success!
Download this handy checklist so you know exactly what to do before handing over your development project:
Download Development Handover Checklist