How To Run A Business With A Distributed Team (Agile)

With every breath, there is one application launching in the app store. The competitive scenario of launching the application is showing how the app development industry is flourishing. 

With the introduction of every new app in the store, the harder and more fierce competition is becoming for businesses to keep up with their existing team structure. While the ongoing pandemic continues to affect the global population, most enterprises are still meeting new challenges to cope with the consequences of radical changes at their workplaces. 

Over 26% of US employees are currently working remotely & as per a survey report by LiveCareer, 62% of workers prefer the remote work model over working from the office while 30% of them shall quit their job if not allowed to work remotely.

There are multiple benefits one can get by outsourcing app development to a distributed agile team for technological skill sets, and great results in a cost-efficient manner. 

Among numerous advantages, it has been observed that many entrepreneurs often find it challenging to implement outsourcing software app development as a new normal beyond their geographical boundaries and other reasons like time zone differences, cultural understanding, language barriers, etc. 

Now it’s crystal clear why “How to be Agile with Distributed Teams” is the most talked about topic of the time.

Here in this article, you will see how reputed developers work with global enterprises to provide ultimate solutions to other concerns and doubts by using a distributed agile development methodology.

A Quick Overview of the Meaning of Distributed Agile Team

Let’s start with the basic definition of the distributed agile team for a business.

A distributed team refers to 2 or more teams spread across two or more geographical locations. Here, the team lacks the physical space but they do maintain all their work by relying on digital technologies in order to bring in the final product.

What is the Need for Having a Distributed Agile Team?

Many reasons made it necessary to look for a distributed agile team. A few among them are-

• Unavailability of experienced developers who are adept at using modern mobile app development technologies.
• For market research before investing,
• For cost-effectively getting better service,
• For technologically advanced services from experienced developers who are familiar with the ins & outs of helping businesses with an agile distributed team for full-scale enterprise mobility app development.

These are the major benefits of having an agile distributed team that makes outsourcing for digital transformation a big yes for startups & emerging businesses.  

What it means by the distributed agile team and the need to have one, let us check out the secrets of proceeding further with the right mobile app development methodology while showing you the typical distributed structure look. 

Best Business-centric Approach Towards Distributed Agile Development

Most of the time, agile teams get project requirements from clients living far from our zone & in such a situation, they never make connectivity, time gap, the distance an excuse for delivering what is promised.

In such scenarios, they rather dedicatedly focus on planning and working with distributed agile models in a flexible team environment to meet the result on time while making changes if required from the client side & that too in real-time.

They never make false and fake promises regarding the project and always ensure timely delivery of the project while keeping communication our top priority. 

Distributed Agile approach becomes a need when you need a skilled person for your job or working with a team sitting in another corner of the world. 

If you are still not convinced with the idea of heading further with a distributed agile approach as per your mobile app development strategies, let us give you clear evidence of how it could benefit your business. 

Advantages of Agile Distributed Teams

1. By appointing global human resources, the overall skill set of the teams automatically increases. A business does not require more office space to accommodate additional team members and other associated work items and facilities. 
2. Increased feedback due to the iterative nature of Agile.
3. Reduced expenses on travel.
4. Here we never bring the seed of discrimination that comes between our work and ideology be it against race, caste, culture, gender, or disability. A disabled person with talent is also welcome in our project.
5. Flexible working arrangements foster an increased commitment to the company.
6. Increased cultural diversity.

All about Implementing a Distributed Agile Methodology for Business Projects

Once done with the meeting and introducing all the software development team structure, team members, and collaborating with project management software, the actual work begins then.

We strongly believe and follow scrum and methodology, which means having a standup meeting of 15-20 minutes where each team member shares the status of their tasks along with informing about the next task to be taken for that particular day. 

But, in a pandemic situation where team members are remotely working from home & are far away from the location or sitting in some other corner of the world, it becomes impossible to follow our traditional process.

In such a case, we follow certain tips to manage remote developers & ensure that projects run smoothly.

Another approach for businesses with a distributed agile team called Scrum of Scrums which we follow is all about appointing one scrum master.

 In this process, every individual teamwork gets a separate scrum team with a scrum master and product owner. Apart from focusing on the type of distributed agile team structure, we make sure to follow up the process as well.

Here in this process, all the members are required to provide their answers to the questions like- 

• About the work, the team has completed since the last Scrum of Scrums. 
• About the strategies and planning, the team is planning to execute before the next scrum meeting
• About the hindrances, issues, & challenges faced by the team in mobile app development projects. 
• What can be done next to avoid hindrance or cut the same?

This methodology ensures that all the team members working on the project get the chance to meet each other daily, something that keeps misunderstandings at bay. 

These distributed best agile practices ensure open, clear, and transparent communication between all the members as everyone shares their status reports. The practice is somewhat similar to the typical Agile methodology including project management team structure. 

The mile distance between a team and business clients brings new learnings that can be used to enhance the overall work experience. 

Here is a glimpse of the good things that businesses with a distributed agile team learn:

A distributed Agile Team is not about the Process but about Building a Culture

No matter how skilled and experienced your team is, if they are not able to work together, there is no use. 

If there is no sense of ownership and responsibility about the allotted task or the knowledge of how close they all are to the ultimate goal, there will always be loopholes in making the most out of the latest digital transformation technologies. 

It is not a process but a culture, the culture of following daily practices subtly and acceptably. We follow up on the recommended size of an agile team system to ensure that work can be completed smoothly.

‘SMART’ is the New Definition

A project that involves different team members settled in different countries, in such instances, it becomes a priority to focus on the theory of SMART– Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-framed. 

Not Underestimating the Power of Online Tools

When working with the distributed agile team, it’s realized that no matter how costly the online tools are, they are a necessity and cannot be neglected at any cost. 

The selection of a perfect technology stack for mobile app development is as important as being skilled at using tools that provide real-time information with no lags and buffering.

Appreciation is the Must

Occasionally appreciating the team is important, just like nagging them for the best result. By appreciating our team for all the hard work and dedication they are putting towards the ultimate goal, we realized that giving them good words is way more workable. 

Hence, it is vital to know that one of the major factors to focus on the agile team structure is to appreciate the members for their work.

Right Team Leader

In a distributed Agile team, there is nothing more dangerous than choosing the wrong team lead. Working on a project is demanding and choosing the wrong lead can divert the overall flow of the project in another direction- Failure. 

By working with the distributed agile team, businesses learn that finding the right and worthy team lead is a need and should be taken seriously to mitigate the major enterprise app development challenges right from the beginning. 

Let’s have a look at those difficulties that agile tools for managing agile teams can solve. 

A Route to Resolve Top Challenges for Businesses with a Distributed Agile Team

Several challenges are faced during mobile app development and mixing agile to it can be a bit frustrating. There can be instances that can be challenging even for agile methodology. Let us give you a brief of the top challenges faced by businesses that one might go through with agile development methodology that need to be resolved effectively and efficiently.

Cultural Difference

As shown above, we have marked the difference in culture as an advantage. It is clearly understood that the distributed agile team is not only about different people living in different countries working but also about the amalgamation of different cultures. 

Before portraying cultural differences as an excuse, every agile team should answer some general questions by startups for building an app as they always need to work closely with other teams to get accustomed to their lines and contexts.

The Difference in the Time Zone

The distributed agile team itself shows the diversification of team members and the difference in the time zone is the most common occurrence. 

For simplifying the task of curbing time zone differences, there is always a need to fix a time as per the availability of all the team members. 

When businesses with a distributed agile team go ahead with the process, the environment can be beneficial for the business and work, but it requires ensuring that the project is timely managed.

Blurry Goal

No matter which approaches to choose to go Agile, the difference in time zone, cultural differences, strategies, working structures, and policies can always pose a hindrance. 

Lack of clarity about team objectives can affect the efficiency of the entire group and the ultimate goal of the project- a complete fully functional mobile application. To cure this situation, a meeting, a reminder scrum becomes the ultimate tool, appreciation remains there by default.

Ownership Code

As there is no ownership code allocated to a particular person, the obviousness of blaming other people when things get wrong is a risky affair. To solve such issues, what we do here is we apply a version control system for keeping track of who is working on code, when, and the ultimate effect of it. By doing this, the picture becomes clear and transparent.

How a Distributed Agile Team at Appventurez can Drive Profits for Businesses?

Getting started with a distributed agile team turns out a bit complicated if developers are unaware of the nitty-gritty of working in an agile environment. So, it’s more than necessary to go ahead with professionals at Appventurez, who are adept at implementing result-oriented agile practices for cross-platform app development.

Here there are more things we learned when we first made our distributed agile team and still following the learning drawn then. Our team is growing, and so do we. From managing the software development team structure to working on projects, we have it covered for businesses counting on the benefits of distributed agile teams. Contact us to find out more!