Agile Software Development Company

Agile Software Development Company

Agile software development is an iterative and flexible approach that values customer satisfaction and responsiveness to changing requirements. One of the key principles of agile is to empower the team and the stakeholders to collaborate and continuously improve the product. In this context, self-service is a powerful approach to give more autonomy and ownership to the team and streamline the development process.

What is a self-service approach?

In a self-service approach, users are provided with tools and resources to help them perform certain tasks on their own, without the need for assistance from support or development teams. This approach is commonly used in industries such as retail, banking, and telecommunications, where customers can access services and information through online portals, mobile apps, or other self-service channels.

In Agile software development, a self-service approach can be used to empower users to perform tasks such as:

  • Submitting and tracking issues or bugs
  • Requesting new features or enhancements
  • Accessing documentation and knowledge base
  • Viewing project status and progress
  • Providing feedback and suggestions

By providing users with these self-service options, Agile teams can reduce the burden on support and development teams, streamline the communication process, and increase user engagement and satisfaction.

Self-service means that the team and the stakeholders have access to the tools, information, and resources they need to perform their tasks and make decisions without relying on external dependencies or waiting for approvals. Self-service can reduce delays, misunderstandings, and errors, and increase transparency, engagement, and innovation. 

Benefits of a Self-Service Approach in Agile Software Development

  1. Increased efficiency and productivity: By allowing users to perform certain tasks on their own, Agile teams can focus on more complex tasks and reduce the amount of time spent on support requests.
  2. Improved communication: Self-service channels provide users with real-time access to project status and updates, which can reduce the need for communication via email or phone.
  3. Increased user engagement: By providing users with the tools and resources they need to perform tasks, Agile teams can increase user engagement and satisfaction.
  4. Better project visibility: Self-service platforms provide Agile teams with real-time access to user requests and feedback, which can help identify areas for improvement and optimization

Here are some steps to implement self-service in agile software development:

  1. Define the scope and objectives: Self-service can apply to different areas of the software development life cycle, such as requirements gathering, testing, deployment, monitoring, and support. It is important to identify the areas that can benefit from self-service and the goals that can be achieved, such as reducing cycle time, increasing quality, or improving user experience.
  2. Identify the stakeholders: Self-service involves different roles, such as product owners, developers, testers, operations, and users. Each role has specific needs and expectations that can be addressed through self-service. It is important to involve the stakeholders in the definition and implementation of self-service and to communicate the benefits and limitations of the approach.
  3. Choose the tools and resources: Self-service requires access to the right tools and resources that can enable the stakeholders to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively. Examples of tools and resources are:
  • Collaboration platforms, such as Jira, Trello, or Asana, allow the team and the stakeholders to communicate, share documents, and track progress.
  • Automation frameworks, such as Jenkins, Ansible, or Chef, enable the team to automate repetitive tasks, such as building, testing and deploying software.
  • Knowledge bases, wikis, or FAQs, that provide relevant information and guidelines to the team and the stakeholders.
  • Monitoring and analytics tools, such as New Relic, Splunk, or Google Analytics, help the team and the stakeholders gather and analyze data about the product and the users.
  1. Establish the governance and policies: Self-service can increase agility and innovation, but it can also pose risks and challenges, such as security, compliance, or quality control. It is important to establish clear governance and policies that define the roles, responsibilities, and rules of engagement for self-service. Examples of governance and policies are:
  • Access control and permissions, limit the access and privileges of the stakeholders based on their roles and responsibilities.
  • Change management and version control, ensure that the changes to the product are tracked, tested, and validated before they are released.
  • Quality assurance and testing, define the standards and criteria for the quality of the product and ensure that the self-service activities do not compromise the quality.
  • Incident management and escalation, which establish the procedures and protocols for handling and resolving issues and incidents that may arise from self-service activities.
  1. Monitor and optimize the self-service: Self-service is a continuous improvement process that requires monitoring and optimization to ensure that it delivers the intended benefits and that it adapts to changing circumstances. It is important to collect feedback and metrics from the stakeholders and to use them to identify the areas of improvement, the best practices, and the success stories of self-service.

Self-service implementation challenges in agile software development

Although the self-service strategy is the answer to the issues we described above, it too has its share of difficulties. At first glance, the difficulties in implementing the self-service strategy may appear to be the very issues that it seeks to address rather than the answer to those issues. Let’s examine a few of these difficulties:

  • These kinds of resources are necessary because you must have a solid awareness of the organization and its procedures.
  • You must be aware of the typical data demands that your business makes, which, once again, necessitates the availability of resources.
  • You must invest money upfront, therefore you need money as well.

These issues would seem to be the same ones that the self-service model aims to address. These are only the first difficulties, though. All stakeholders enjoy a smooth ride once an organization develops the self-service approach across all processes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a self-service approach can be a powerful tool for Agile teams to manage their workload efficiently while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction. By providing users with self-service options, Agile teams can reduce the burden on support and development teams, streamline communication, and increase user engagement and satisfaction. With the right tools and processes in place, Agile teams can successfully implement a self-service approach and achieve their project goals more effectively.

How can businesses benefit with Airbnb’s API?

How can businesses benefit with Airbnb's API?

Airbnb started off in 2008 with the objective of transforming the landscape of vacation rentals or Short-term rentals. Over the years, it has evolved into one of the biggest entities with footprints worldwide and a robust brand name. It provides a perfect platform for people to rent out their vacant residential spaces for travelers or tourists for a short duration. The duration could be one day or several months at a time. Presently, the Airbnb has ceased to be a mere trading space that connects hosts and tourists. It has gone way beyond the realm of rooms and apartments. The platform, currently, also provides local experiences and exclusive information on premium rental spaces for those eyeing world class amenities and facilities. In fact, the Airbnb is also eyeing a bigger pie in the hospitality segment by exploring new arenas.

The online marketplace has also provided people the opportunity to start independent property rental businesses. Over here, they are only required to deliver the property. The other essential things such as the listing, money transactions and customer assistance are very well looked after by the Airbnb. So, the platform has opened several potential business opportunities and it offers all kinds of assistance to business owners. All these could not have been possible without its Application Programming Interface (API).

What exactly is this API?

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a medium that connects two software applications. The applications cannot interact with each other without an API. The interface is widely-widely used, but not many are aware of the same. This is extremely beneficial for developers. For instance, if an application wants to click photos through the camera of a device, the developer does not have to build a camera interface. He or she only has to utilize the camera API of the operating system to insert the built-in camera interface into their app.

The application interface is significant in the matters of security as well. It can restrict the access control on hardware and software functionality for an app. For example, if an app wants access to a device camera via an API, it could be denied the same by the user upon prompting. This totally eliminates all the possibility for an app to access the camera. So, the API ensures that security of a device is not breached by a third-party software application.

Airbnb’s API not for everyone

The Airbnb came out with a distinct API of its own in 2017. The entity has always tread with caution when it comes to selecting partners. Despite heavy demand, the Airbnb had not given access to its API to other companies to make products using its platform.

However, the platform, eventually, became a part of the developer community in 2017 with its API. Following this, external developers got access to the Airbnb API. But, the API is not yet accessible to everyone as Airbnb has put in place several procedural safeguards to restrict the access. Due to the stringent policy, it becomes extremely tough to access the API. This way Airbnb is treading a unique path compared to other businesses in operation.

Benefits of Airbnb’s API to businesses

For those wanting to list their properties on Airbnb space, its API can be a very handy tool. This aspect motivates developers to incorporate effective tools in the API with which people, who list on Airbnb, can gain good control over the online marketplace.

The API provides users with a tool called OAuth. The tool is an open protocol which facilitates authorization of mobile and web applications conveniently in a standardized manner. The OAuth enables users to update the content and the rates of their listings via a single app.

It should also be noted that APIs permits software to software interaction. This implies that the Airbnb can also dispatch data back to the custom apps. So, when people make bookings via Airbnb platform, they will also get reservation and messaging details via API. This aspect ensures that businesses, which use the platform, can streamline their operations in an effective manner.

The procedure to acquire the Airbnb API

Despite being part of the developer community, the API of Airbnb is not easily accessible. The Airbnb has a very stringent policy in terms of providing access to the API.

Earlier, the interested parties had to fill out a form. Then on the basis of this, the company’s partnership managers took a decision on providing access to the API. However, this process has been put on hold now. Currently, the company’s worldwide team of partner managers is providing access to businesses on the basis of the supply potential, the technological prowess, and the capacity to support shared customers. Hence, the ideal option is to approach the company directly or through the partner managers.

If they permit you as a partner, then the Airbnb will give you API documentation in order to work out a development timeline. Now, developers can finish their task and launch the application.

In case of any doubt, seek the help of Airbnb partner manager. Once things are in place, you can start incorporating the list of lodging on the Airbnb platform through the API connection and start receiving travelers from all around the world.

Benefits of Integrating Airbnb API into your business

There are immense benefits for those businesses looking to integrate the Airbnb’s API. It becomes easier to manage the listing on Airbnb platform. You only need to log in to make any tweaks to the content listed, be it about the vacant space or price. In case you have multiple listing on the website, then you need to manage or change the content manually, which could consume a lot of time. However, with a custom property management software, linked to the website via Airbnb’s API, will help you make any number of amends in quick time.

This happens to be one of the convenient methods to manage list of properties on Airbnb.

In case you are dealing with multitudes of renters, then messaging each and every one manually can be a herculean task. In such a scenario, automated messages are the best options to respond quickly to each and every queries. So, an API-linked software can effectively deal with multiple queries and improve your image among customers.

This also helps in customer creation and retention as they would get a feeling that you would be around in case of any issue. In case, developers require any technical assistance that is not there in the documentation for the API, Airbnb’s worldwide team of partner managers will always be there to help you out.

Also Read : What Is API & How Does It Work ?

Seek expert’s help for API integration

If done properly API integration can work wonders for your business. However, the company would suffer a lot if the same is not performed with due diligence. As discussed previously, the API connects two softwares so as to facilitate effective communication between the two.

Hence it becomes imperative to entrust the task of integrating custom software solutions with APIs to experienced and skilled developers. For this you can trust Winklix with your eyes closed. Winklix happens to be one of the leading software companies across the world, which has successfully partnered with both renowned global brands and startups. Be it the custom CMS, payment gateway, mobile app or API integration with Airbnb, our skilled developers with their high-class expertise have accomplished everything. The company is based out of US with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah. So, get in touch with Winklix for any software development activities or smooth facilitation of Airbnb API integration.

Software Developments For Start-Ups

software development company london

Developing a software specially for startups which is usually budget constraint with raw idea is really a tough task . You may face challenges , as you have to tackle with two things while dealing with startups – the first one being their uncertain requirements and second one being to develop a software with limited resources specially in growing market condition . So choosing wisely the features and adapting the new trend according to customers request can drive you to the path of success .

As far as any software development company is concern every startups are unique and no protocol have to be followed from development methodology . As far as our experience says , working with startups is more or less a learning process for any software development company .

A right developer with good skills can help startups by understanding their exact requirement , suggesting them with the possibilities and can help you implement perfect technology , languages , API integration and platform .

As it is a startup the best strategy is to use mature frameworks which will save development time as they usually comes with multiple modules and works right out of the box . If you are still willing to use latest unstable releases of technology , then get ready to face challenges !

Another important factor being which is usually seen in software development field only is innovative and fast moving nature of software industry , and that is the reason marketplace for software applications  becomes competitive .

So in short in order to convert your dreams into reality the most important factors to be considered are:

  1. Planning your idea carefully .
  2. Choosing a right software development company after right evaluation and checking them team capability .

How To Develop Your Software Development Idea

  • The very first thing that you need to focus on is convert your basic idea into wireframe . The best way to do it is make a note of all you want to achieve by way of software solution , and what problems can act as a problem solver for your business by way of software .
  • When you are down with wire framing and blueprints , now the second question that usually arrises in any person mind how your app with look like . Your design should be clear and simple enough in terms of everyone usability . The design will aid software developers crystal clear view of how your software is suppose to be work.
  • You should also have to forecast about pitfalls that may arise during developmental process . This could range from reliability , functionality , time and cost .
If your idea is budget constraint ( which is usually the case with most of the startups if they are not funded ) then the best option is to focus on one core thing with minimum viable product (MVP) . The purpose of MVP is to demonstrate your idea to investors . Once you are launched with the very first version of it , you can start polishing and expanding after successful release .

How Can A Good Software Development Company Can Help You 

  • After getting your detailed requirement , a software developer can help you with creating of MVP which will be a cheaper and best effective solution which suits all your software development needs .
  • Their expertise in this filed will make you blow with providing the best suitable solution for your software development process .
At Winklix , we have over years of experience while working with startups companies which can be viewed in our showcase examples that we can share . Give us a call or drop us a mail to discuss how Winklix can do for your startup business .