Novel Approach for Mobile Based App Development Incorporating MAAF

Abstract

Increased dominance of mobile applications (henceforth, app) over conventional software applications is quite apparent; however, there is a lack of structured mechanisms for efficient mobile application development. Classical software development models were successfully used with conventional applications with or without adaptations, but due to the distinctive characteristics of apps, these development models are not suitable to rely upon. Agile development models proved themselves worthy of using in different development environments and team traits irrespective of the software application size. It is evident that incorporating agility in the software development paradigm not only speeds up the development process, but it also eases the communication flow between the client and the development team. It is also observed that peculiar characteristic of an app development project is the constant negotiations between the client and the team. Thus, agile and mobile forms a ridge-and-groove formation and deem fit to fulfill various parameters of mobile application development—if applied appropriately. The objective of this paper is to determine the agility of an app project in the subject and to propose a recommendation framework based on this agility and other project characteristics. For convenience, we call this framework as MAAF—Mobile Application Agility Framework. This framework is validated by assigning the same project to be built by four different agile teams. Out of the four agile teams, one team used the technique recommended by the proposed framework, and the other three teams adopted agile methods of their choice. This process is repeated for five different mobile app projects. The developed apps were later presented to the user community for ratings. The rating reports suggest that the proposed recommendation framework based on agility indeed works satisfactorily. The outcome of this work will help app developers and project managers deliver solutions in time and with utmost customer satisfaction.