Tips to Provide the Best Website Experience, Page 6 of 25

What is scrum?

Although it only consists of five letters, Scrum is not an acronym, but a term borrowed from the sport of rugby which refers to a method for managing software development projects. Scrum is an Agile software development method which, unlike the traditional “waterfall” method, uses an iterative approach involving a cross-functional team in time-boxed cycles.

Understanding agile

Since Scrum is a type of Agile methodology, it’s important to understand Agile. The term was first introduced by Dr. Winston Royce in 1970. He realized that a large software system should not be treated the same as an automobile assembly line, where each part is only installed after a previous stage has been completed.

The main drawback of this approach, according to Royce, is the lack of communication between various specialists in the development team. Another problem with the traditional assembly line approach is it assumes that users and designers are able to predict the requirements of the next phase of the project with 100% accuracy. Also, the traditional approach relies on the hope that the initial design will still be relevant at the end of the project – often years later.

Understanding scrum

Scrum, the leading methodology for Agile development used around the world, was adopted for Agile software development by Jeff Sutherland in 1993. The term is borrowed from the sport of rugby as an analogy that depicts different types of players working together in a tight-knit fashion. In software development, Scrum is a flexible, holistic strategy performed by a cross-functional team throughout multiple overlapping phases.

The defining characteristics of Scrum are the time-boxed development cycles called “sprints” and the three core roles on a scrum team: the product owner, the scrum master and the developers.

What is a sprint?

A development cycle in Scrum, called a sprint, is a short work interval of usually two weeks. The typical process of a sprint is as follows:

1. Sprint planning event: Determines the work likely to be done during the sprint and prepares the sprint backlog, which details the backlog items to be done.
2. Daily scrum or “standup”: A short meeting of usually 15 minutes occurs every day at a specific time. Each team member gives a brief account of their work, goals and identifies impediments.
3. Sprint review: The development team assesses all the work that was completed, notes any planned work that was not completed and presents a demo to the stakeholders.
4. Sprint retrospective: A meeting of moderate duration, usually 90 minutes, where team members reflect on the past sprint and assess what went well and what could be improved in the next sprint.

Scrum is sometimes maligned for not delivering the accelerated results that should be expected, but this is usually due to teams not understanding the methodology or trying to borrow ideas from Scrum without embracing it fully. Scrum is the most prevalent framework for agile development worldwide and for fortune 500 projects for a good reason: because when it's done properly it generally out-performs other traditional development methods.

To discover more about this topic or to find out what our development team has to offer for your mobile app or web design project, contact us today.

Creating a website of any kind can be a stressful ordeal. The website development process has multiple facets to it in order to create a functioning, serviceable site. Many people, though, forget about customer service when creating their site.

In today's digital world, customer service is quickly moving towards customer self-service. Allowing for customers to use self-service on your website greatly reduces your support costs, as well as bolsters your online presence. Recent polls have indicated that nearly 75% of customers would rather use an online self-service than call into a customer help line. However, this also means that any online portal created must be easy to use, completely accurate and incredibly reliable.

Creating an effective and reliable online portal is easily done with some of these suggestions.

• Use peer-to-peer interactions and/or forums. Allowing the customers to speak among themselves lets the customer become more involved in your webpage and product. Human interaction is also important when one takes out the element of customer call-lines. Peer-to-peer interactions allows for that human interaction without the need to call into a line and speak in person to a stranger.
• Have an excellent search engine. This search engine will be the backbone of your online portal, connecting the customer with every answer they need. The engine needs to be capable of collecting data from every available source that coincides with the search it is performing.
• Organize your portal by topic. If you are selling more than one product, organize your portal to allow for easy access to information about each product. If your company's different locations have a factor on someone's search, separate by that. Anything that would make it easier for a customer to locate what it is they are looking for, have a specific area for.
• Communicate through the portal. Customers having issues with your website will look to your portal for information. Communicate any updates, errors or significant changes through this portal, and allow for a way for the customer to communicate back. An effective online portal gains its knowledge from its users, and a customer will only use the portal if they feel they can find what they need from it.

If you would like help with your online customer portal or any other part of your website development, feel free to contact us, and we will be happy to help you along.

A successful sprint in agile development centers around the User Story. The User Story helps ensure that the product delivered accurately reflects the user requirements. They provide a clear and concise way for developers and customers to collaborate in a language that each understands. This helps the customer articulate their request, and provides the developer a clear roadmap to follow when developing the software or feature. Below are 5 tips for How to write User Stories for use in Agile Development:

1. Collaboration is Key - No one person develops the user story. It is a collaborative effort between the user, the product owner, and developers. The e entire team should work together to discuss and define the story to ensure that everyone understands the requirements. This collaborative approach fosters creativity and often results in better user stories
2. Short and Simple - Keep the story concise and to the point. Focus on what is essential to the story and leave out the rest. This helps ensure that they are easy to understand. In addition, it helps avoid confusion and ambiguity. Write the story in an active voice, and follow the following format. As <user> , I want <what?> so that <why?>.
3. Refine - The story often isn't complete or accurate after the first pass or even the second pass. It is important to iterate over the stories refining and improving them until they are clearly defined to all parties.
4. Verifiable - A good User Story is also one that has easily identifiable and realistic acceptance criteria that the team agrees upon. The acceptance criteria not only enhance the story but they ensure that the story results in a tangible, demonstrable release to the customer.
5. Customer is Priority - Make sure that your stories are not bogged down with technical tasks. The User Story is not about the developers plan of action to realize the story. They are for the customer, and should express real business value to that customer.

With the right approach, User Stories provide a working road map that promotes customer involvement in the software development process. Done properly, they help ensue successful delivery of the features requested. Please contact us to learn how are expertise in User Story development can help you achieve your software development goals.

In an online world rife with fake news, viral posts, and instantaneous reactions, reputation management is increasingly important. One bad Yelp review, embarrassing hashtag or unfortunate photo will find years of hard work undone in several days, if not hours. Although managing your reputation may be important for the overall health of your business, the major reason behind reputation management's importance lies in its ability to turn a negative experience into a positive one. Here's a tip and an example.

Be Proactive

No one sets out looking for a bad review. But, when an unhappy customer, a jealous competitor or a viral hashtag puts your business in the spotlight, it's important to issue a response. Whether it is to assuage the customer by offering free services and refunds, correcting an error or reinforcing your organization's principles, your response is important. Reputation management software systems monitor any online mention of your business, allowing you to respond appropriately and in a timely manner.

But, how should you respond?

Your response will be suited to the situation and to your brand. The major reason reputation management is important is the role it plays in showing potential customers what your business is all about. Here's an example:

Perhaps you heard the story about the dive bar in New York City that received a one-star Yelp review. The bar owners chided the reviewer, through a direct response, on her inability to choose a restaurant that met her preferences. She wanted a quiet spot for a beer with friends and decided to choose a dive bar. The owners pointed out that the review was unfair, not because of anything the bar did wrong, but because of the reviewer's unfounded expectations (read the full response here, it's worth it).

Take note of this response. Not everyone is going to like your brand or your business model. This is fine. You can't please everyone, nor should you aim to. But the Iron Horse in NYC spun this poor review into gold. By identifying their niche and staying true to their brand, they were able to garner international attention while reaching out to a larger audience of potential customers.

For more information on how you can achieve a positive business reputation, please contact us.

Mobile applications have become increasingly popular as a tool to engage consumers with various companies. Consumers download an average of 8 applications a day, be they gaming, photo editing, news, or social media apps. Companies and individuals that have an idea for a great application and see it through often find themselves building a multi-billion dollar empire!

Do you want to develop your own app? Have a great idea for a gaming app or want to make your own blog more accessible to the public? It's easier than ever before to create and implement an app for the public. There are a few simple steps to follow in order to bring your idea to life!

First, figure out what type of application you want to create. Take a look at the Android, Google, or Apple stores for ideas on different genres to choose from. The most popular choices tend to be games, photo editing, and social media, but you are free to create whatever app you want! Also, look at the audience you creating the app for. Is this app for your business, or is it something that is meant specifically to entertain? Is a little of both?

Second, begin drawing up different designs for how you want your application to look and be used. These can be simple stick figure drawings at first, but it is still wise to have more developed drawings as you go along. If you prefer, hire someone or find a friend who can help you develop clearer drawings to get your idea across. Clear and professional drawings make it easier to get funding or a professional company to develop and publish your application to all of the major stores. The ultimate point here is to flesh out your idea in a visual sense so that you and others have a clear idea of what you want out of your app.

Thirdly (this part is a little more complicated), develop the back end of your app. This part can be done yourself or through a trusted team of people dedicated to helping you with your application. The back end of your app is the part that makes everything function the way it's supposed to; if it is responsive, for example, then when a consumer scrolls down on their smart phone, it will do as expected. If a consumer goes and updates the application, then it should update as anticipated. (This is essentially why I suggest a team of individuals help with this part of the process, as this is fairly complicated for folks who don't know what they are getting into.)

Finally, find a team to help you get your application published and available through mainstream sources such as the Apple App Store or the Android Store. Do some research online to find great companies who will publish your application. Once your application is accessible to the public, you have succeeded in creating an application! Sound fun? Awesome! Now go out there and create!

Why is reputation management important? The fact is that people believe bad online reviews. Not only that, but disgruntled customers are more likely to leave negative reviews than happy customers are to leave positive reviews.

It's not just the reviews that matter: Websites that are set up solely to damage the reputation of another business aren't uncommon. Two types of people are likely to do this: Your competitors and people who feel they've been treated wrongly by your staff.

When it comes to online reviews on sites such as Google, Facebook, Yelp and other directories, it is important not to get into any arguments. Your staff will just come across as unfriendly and rude. The trick is to take the conversation offline. Here's a good example of what to reply to a negative review: "We're sorry you had such an experience. We've contacted you to remedy the situation."

The main way to counter a bad online reputation is to build up a positive reputation. With online reviews, it means encouraging happy customers to leave 5-star reviews.

But that's not enough. Bad reviews from bloggers and independent websites can rank in the search engines when someone searches for your company. The only way to counter this is through a reputation management strategy that includes building positive reviews online on independent websites.

Don't wait for the bad reviews to come before doing reputation management! If you're not establishing a positive presence online and on social media, your company and your CEO are both prime targets for a negative campaign. Contact us for help.

Much ado has been made about the importance of having a responsive website design, but few people really know why it's important to have a responsive website design for your business. With this in mind, then, we've come up with a list of some of the many benefits of responsive website design:

• Responsive website design saves you time and money. As professionals move away from desktop and laptop computers -- and more towards mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets -- the need for a website that "responds," or can be searchable and clickable regardless of the platform, increases. This means that customers can view your site, and purchase from your site, no matter what they're looking for and no matter what the context.
• Responsive website design improves the user experience. Further along the lines of the website looking good no matter what platform it's viewed on, when a user (that is, a potential customer) sees a nice website on a smartphone or on a laptop, they're more inclined to visit the website again...as well as purchase from the website as well.
• Finally, but certainly no less importantly, responsive website design improves your Google rankings. While no one factor is the sole contributor to Google rankings -- higher rankings come as a result of a combination of digital marketing techniques -- a recent article released by Google suggests that part of the new Google algorithm takes website responsiveness into account when devising the rankings. And, the more responsive the website is, the higher the ranking.

For more information about us and our services, contact us today to see what we can do for you.

System failures due to miscommunication between developers is a common problem that can endanger the success of application development projects. To combat this problem, something called Joint Application Development is used. JAD brings developers, users, and managers together in brainstorming sessions with the intention of improving the System Requirement Determination (SRD) phase of the Software Development Life-Cycle (SDLC), and elevating the standard of quality produced by software development projects.

While the introduction of JAD into the SRD process has resulted in substantial improvements in regards to obtaining consistent results compared to previous methods, it still suffers from the inadequacies associated with its freely interactive group structure. Studies have shown that as many as 57% of development projects end in failure because they did not accurately identify the needs of their intended users. The research paper in question proposes that JAD can be improved by introducing elements of Nominal Group Technique (NGT) – which is a series of protocols designed specifically to avoid the sorts of problems that are common to unstructured workshops session such as JAD.

The usage of Joint Application Development was intended to speed up the SRD phase of IT projects. In order to accomplish this, JAD utilizes input from clients in a group setting in an effort to develop solutions by identifying what they believe their businesses’ requirements are. Before the usage of JAD was introduced, the identification of these requirements was achieved using personal interviews with stakeholders. As time passed the inadequacies of this method became apparent, thus leading to the introduction of JAD, which focuses on a team oriented, consensus-based approach to developing IT solutions.

Nominal Group Technique is a method of conducting group meetings - such as JAD workshops - and was designed to allow each member at the meeting to contribute their input by preventing the more assertive group members from overpowering those who are less vocal, resulting in an increase in general group satisfaction in the final results of meeting sessions. NGT has proven to be particularly effective when tough decisions must be made, or controversial topics are tackled using the input from a large group of people. It can also mitigate the effects of some group members attempting to influence others. Meetings involving smaller groups of around 15 or fewer members can be conducted as a whole. Larger groups are more easily managed when organized into subgroups of six to eight people.

In order to demonstrate the potential benefits of marrying NGT techniques to JAD sessions, experiments were conducted in which 24 workshops were held where professionals, managers, and business students were brought together in a laboratory setting. The results of this experiment seem to indicate that introducing NGT elements into the JAD process can yield substantial improvements in the outcome of the software development projects. The results of experiment confirmed all of its creator’s hypotheses in regards to improvements in the recorded performance measurements; and while there were no significant benefits regarding efficiency, unresolved issues, and the number of unique features generated by the projects, there was also no measurable impediment to these attributes.

While the ultimate validity of this experiment in data collection is marred by the limited nature of simulated experiments, the promising nature of its results warrant further investigation into the effectiveness of its premise. If NGT has been proven to aid settings similar to JAD meetings, then there is no reason to doubt that it can improve actual JAD sessions in the real world.

If you'd like to learn more about how the application development techniques can improve the development of the applications you need, then please, feel free to contact us. We're waiting for you.