This is Part 3 of a three part series on "What to Expect When You're Expecting (Software Development)." Read on to learn about how best to collaborate with us 🙂
Collaboration during Development is KEY
Software development is a two-way street. You know your product better than anyone out there (which is why you chose to build something in your space!), so it is really important that we collaborate throughout the entirety of development.
Our Responsibility
We are here to make YOUR life easier. Leveraging technology and data, we will give you a vertically integrated experience, ensuring you are taken care of from start to finish.
Our services include:
- Making sure your designs are complete
- Ensuring you have a streamlined and efficient product development process
- Helping you manage the project and developers to hit key deadlines
- Strategizing the right approach, making sure you are taking the proper steps to your current product and helping plan any future development needs
- Deploying your product live, getting you off the ground!
Your Responsibility
While we are here for you, we still need your help! As we push features, please test your product! Let us know if there are bugs, tell us if you don't like what you see or if it isn't what you anticipated. We need you to stay engaged during development in order to collaborate effectively.
It is important that you use Aloa Manage to document everything so we can keep tabs on all action items. Do you still have any questions about how to use Aloa Manage? Ask us! That's what we are here for. Help us help you collaborate efficiently during development.
We also LOVE feedback. We are here to help revolutionize the way software development is handled. We've been able to do what we have because our tools and processes are built off typical pain-points of this process. Let us know what you like, let us know what can be better! We constantly want to grow to make sure we are doing the best we can 💪🏾
If you have other priorities and can't be responsive, that is okay, we will work around your schedule. We just want to be clear that as your responsiveness decreases, the speed/flow of development could also decrease. It isn't the end of the world, it may just create a few more bumps in the road, so be sure to buckle up 👍
Working Hours
We do our best to work at your convenience, which means hyper-responsiveness to your needs. You can expect prompt responses from 9:00AM - 5:00PM in your specified time zone Monday - Friday.
If you have any questions outside of those working hours, still let us know! We will still likely respond but it may not be as quick, so please be patient and understanding with us 😊
Communication Best Practices
We like to be organized and have everything done on the same platform if possible. Why do we prefer to keep communication on the same platform? It really helps with searchability of information as well as accountability of action items.
This is based off experience - it will only work to your favor. So, let's keep our communication unified! All messages should be streamlined through the Slack channel for your project/team. All project related actions and decisions should be logged on Aloa Manage.
If you would prefer to set up a call, just shoot us a message on Slack and we can schedule something.
Clarity
We are here to make sure you have the most seamless experience as possible. It is our goal to make sure that everything is taken care of in the most efficient way possible. How can you help with this? NEVER assume and ALWAYS be clear.
When working through features, always be specific as to what you are looking for or want. If you aren't sure of something, ask! If you are pretty sure of something but not 100%, ask! If you are 99% sure of something, double check and ask! 🗣👍🏼
The more we clarify, the less room for miscommunication. So please, don't be afraid to reiterate or ask the 'silly' questions, because nothing is silly to us 😁
Delays
Software development often comes with delays. To make sure we stay transparent with you, we want to outline some typical ones that occur and ways we can mitigate them. Overall, we want to outline this here to express to you that we will be communicative and transparent about any and all delays.
Design Phase
We can take as long as we want to make sure the designs of the project are perfect and to your liking. Sometimes there may be things that you want to keep changing because it just doesn't feel right. Sometimes you may want to try new colors or different looks. This is okay! Just understand that the longer we extend and iterate the design phase, the further it pushes back all other milestones.
Information Gathering
Throughout the project, we are going to need information from you. That may be your credentials for your hosting site or payment platform account. It may be a feedback to understand your preference in build and functionality.
Or, it may be a clarification question if we want to make sure we have the full understanding of a certain feature or integration. There is no limit as to what we may need to work together on regarding sharing information, but what is important is we understand that this is a working relationship.
Your responsiveness is important! We can't collaborate on development without your input. In fact, lack of communication between all parties is often cited as a reason for delays in software development. So if you happen to be away for a few days and we have some questions, that, for example, may cause some delays in building.
Variable Delays
Some delays are not in our control. We will do our best to make sure we prep you when one of these delays may occur, but we want to be sure you have an understanding preemptively. Delays that are out of our control may include, for example:
- Submitting an application to the App Store has to get approved by Apple, and sometimes it can take a bit longer than expected.
- If you need access to a third-party API, it may take time for the request to be accepted or we may have to work around some unknown limitations to the API.
Inherent Delays
Regardless of the project, bugs happen no matter what. Don't fight it, embrace it! By working together and catching bugs as soon as they happen, reporting it through the steps outlined in Aloa Manage, we can work to reduce the impact bugs will have on the development process.
Collaborate with us for Development
We hope our three part series on What to Expect when Expecting (Software Development) was helpful. Our goal is to make the process of collaborating on your project development as seamless and painless as possible. We've been in the space, we've seen some of the pain points that can occur during software development, and we've put measures in place to prevent or mitigate the effect of common pain points.
If you are currently our client, feel free to reach out to your Strategist (which just might be me!) if you have any questions about what you can expect during software development with us.
If you aren't our client yet, feel free to reach out to us anyway! Visit our homepage to get started, or shoot an email to resources@aloa.co.
We're on a mission to change the world of software development, and we'd love to have you with us!
