Originally published March 28, 2017, updated September 07, 2018

Today, mobile apps are present in every aspect of our daily lives. More and more enterprises are opting for using mobile apps for their business. There are a substantial amount of benefits from the mobile apps like that of increasing productivity of the employees, increased levels of customer and staff satisfaction and above all cost reductions. And as a result, more and more mobile app development companies are claiming their share of the market.

The driving force behind mobile app development is that of development at a faster and efficient rate. This is more so because of the complex nature of the process. This situation can be quite successfully improved by a model-driven (MDD) development which will enable a faster and easier development process of native apps, adapting to new features of the underlying platform. Over the years, the model-driven approach has emerged as one of the leading approaches for a faster, collaborative application development.

As we understand, the mobile app development companies, while pursuing the process of Mobile App development, face a number of challenges other than the typical software development problems. As per the demands from the market, it is required that the mobile apps are available in multiple platforms. So, a cost-intensive multi-platform development is an absolute necessity.

This requirement can be dissolved by opting for Agile methodology in the MDD approach.

What is Agile Development Methodology?

Agile development is defined as the ability to move quickly and easily; relating to a method of project management that is characterized by the division of tasks into short phases of work and frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans.

The practices of agile development simplify mobile app development (the one prime reason why we trust Agile Development Approach) so that the resulting mobile apps are adaptable after release. The theory of agile development is sound, and there are several common characteristics of agile development teams that help put the theory into practice.)

As per a report from Gartner, the market demand for mobile application services will grow by almost five times, as compared with the internal IT team’s capability to deliver mobile apps. And this calls for a more sophisticated approach towards the process followed in the Mobile app development industry. Agile development methodology, specially Agile Scrum Method, can be the way to go to succeed and meet the demands of the population.

[Extra: A guide to Agile Scrum Methodology]

Let us now have a look at some of the obstacles faced by the mobile app developers.

Hurdles on the Path of Mobile App Development

• Time taken for rapid development of apps.
• The apps need to be imported from a single platform across a number of operating systems. The cost is almost doubled or tripled for the additional platforms adopted.
• It is quite difficult to find native mobile app developers with strong skills. .
• Server side development can also impact end-user experience and contributing in a terrible app performance.
• The mobile apps based on HTML5 are lacking in native features offering poor performance and providing users with bad experiences, resulting in lower adoption.
• Technologies available for app development is due to vast fragmentation.
• Complexity and cost get enhanced by the open-source tools and plug-ins.

The Solution?

Predictable and repeatable app development processes can be used after identifying ways which ensure a great mobile experience. This will enable parallel work streams, maximizing reuse and which are cost-effective in the long run.

The application development model used by the developers has been thoroughly changed. In the Agile development, the business processes are broken into multiple small task-oriented user interactions called “mobile moments”. The end-result is to develop in a reliable, repeatable and sustainable manner.

Model-driven Approach

The model-driven approach (Agile methodology) is the best approach for resolution of the problem. The methodology that is adopted is rapid development of applications based on architectural models that utilize smaller, discrete objects. The Agile App development approach actually works in combination with micro services architectural approach, so as to deploy independent components into a complete solution. This not only helps to develop faster but also enables in building reusable components across a wide range of applications.

Adopting Agile App Development Approach

The Java-based development teams use frameworks like Spring and Struts for the purpose of Agile App development. Object-based models are used for low-level programming complexities. A standardized programming approach is adopted that enables the developer to understand the application structure.

But, unfortunately for the mobility space, there is no standard enabler for an Agile approach (MDD). However, the companies can stay on the path of the model-driven approach for addressing the rapid pace of changes required in the front-end app interfaces as well as bringing important changes in the back-end and the core infrastructure of the business.

We are entering into an era of connected devices like Wearables and IoT and application development will just not be restricted to the mobile devices but also to these connected devices. Agile App development has its obvious gains for Mobile app development companies and the developers must adopt this, the sooner the better, to reap the array of benefits from this approach.

Originally published March 28, 2017, updated September 07, 2018

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