With startups and organizations feeling the pressure of deploying top-notch mobile applications for their clients and, an experienced app development team, the power of 7 as we call it, is required to get the job done with ruthless efficiency.
The roles in an app development team
Creating a powerful mobile app requires a consistent, quality team effort. And the type of talent involved is bound to work in tandem in order to create and deploy a quality product with all the needs and preferences of the client intact.
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Ranging from the preliminary market research to coding to the post launch services, every individual in the development team is a valuable chunk of the entire value-added chain.
So what are the roles and responsibilities in an app development team?
Product strategist
The app development process starts from the preliminary actions of creating a sound strategy for transforming the client’s idea into a digital reality.
At CMOLDS, we have our own Mr. Hady Shaikh, an experienced lead who defines enterprise-level mobility strategies for ecommerce startups and digital ideators in the MENA region and US markets.
A professional product strategist will start with the initial meeting, define goal, perform a competitive audit, acquire user feedback, and review the goals to test the client’s idea viability.
Furthermore, the competitor analysis, monetization models preferences, marketing strategy development, and paving the roadmap is developed for the actual proceedings to take on from this point.
Project manager
Also termed as project owner, the project manager is responsible for the entire app development campaign and the product delivery.
The project manager will monitor the budget, schedule and scope and ensure that all the stakeholders are aligned on the same page in terms of development updates. It is his/her job to maintain a timely communication channel as all the technical and strategic minutiae are dispersed to respective recipients.
Moreover, project managers are also responsible to adapt to jump queue changes where they’ll be required to increase or limit the budget, timelines, deliverables, and improvise with the resources in hand.
UI/UX designer
UI designers are much more than creating colorful illustrations, graphic designing and adding content. But UI designing for mobile applications requires the professionals to acknowledge the dynamics, navigation, and interdependencies of screens, buttons, and overall performance of the tool.
In other words, designers form the basis of a quality user experience. Starting from wireframes, the initial designs are analyzed and shown to the client for feedback. Upon approval, the designs are finalized for keeping the design trends of iOS and Android in mind accordingly.
Designers use powerful tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, InVision, Avocode, etc. depending on the project requirements, and assure the overall aesthetics are met as promised by the client.
Back end developer
A back-end developer will care of the wireframes and storyboards to support the app and its APIs, data diagrams, data integration, servers, and push notification services.
Through this phase, we tend to stay flexible in modifying the wireframes and/or storyboards in case certain technical limitations arise.
For back-end development, technologies like PHP, GOLang, Node.js, AngularJS, ReactJS, .Net, etc. are used.
Android/iOS developer
An iOS or Android app developer is primarily tasked with the actual coding stuff. But an experienced developer is also expected to acquire a hands-on experience on writing automated tests in JUnit, Espresso, Mocha, etc.
Moreover, awareness with RESTful APIs and mobile libraries for networking; experience with profiling and debugging tools; and knowledge on architectural patters like MVP, MVC and clean architecture.
Android developers are skilled in Java, Kotlin, and C++, while their iOS counterparts use Swift and Objective-C.
As development is one of the longest phases of the entire app development journey, the team has to work back and forth with quality testers through an agile approach.
QA engineer
Another important aspect of the development that consumes a considerable amount of time before calling the product a good to go.
QA engineers need to be well versed in user experience testing, functional testing, performance testing, security testing, and device and platform testing. These different tests will make sure if the final product is stable, usable, and secure.
A series of test cases are prepared to test the app for all possible situations. In doing so, test results are recoded for tool quality evaluation, and tracking fixes for retesting. This is why it is advised to involve your QA team in the analysis and design phase.
An acknowledgment with the tool’s functional requirements and objectives help in creating viable test cases and results.
Deployment & support specialist
Releasing the mobile app in the app stores requires you to comply with the platform’s quality guidelines, either for Google Play or App Store or both.
Typically, an app store optimization (ASO) expert is called in this role to write the technical stuff including meta description, app’s title, category, keywords, launch icon, and app store screenshots.
After the app is submitted on the respected platform, it might take few days to weeks for approval depending on the app’s quality and how well the development and design have complied with the app store guidelines.
After the app is made available, the ASO will start measuring the app’s success by examining the KPIs on mobile analytics platforms. Besides that, the professional will also regularly check for crash reports and similar user reported problems.
Final thoughts!
This concludes our piece on the app development team that we have onboard at CMOLDS!
The power of these 7 strategic and technical enthusiasts showcases the commitment and vigilance we have for aspiring entrepreneurs and established corporations in different industries worldwide.
If you have a brilliant idea is mind, feel free to contact us and place your quote for a thorough, personalized consultation.
Imran Abdul Rauf is a Digital Marketing Strategist, employed at CMOLDS, and specializes in content marketing, email marketing campaigns, lead generation, and other aspects of digital marketing. A content enthusiast by the day, and hardcore gamer by night, Imran is also a regular guest contributor at some of the top tech and digital marketing platforms.
