Remember when you first watched a sci-fi movie years ago and were mesmerized when the vehicles were completely autonomous, and you can connect and synchronize your home appliances via a mobile phone? And you may wonder, “When can I experience that in real life?” The answer is Now.
Today, the world is hyper-connected via the Internet of Things (IoT). For startups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), investing in IoT is essential to excel in a data-driven world and stay competitive. But hold on, like two sides of a coin, there is a dilemma beneath the shimmering veil of IoT development: speed and quality.
The rise of IoT
The latest IoT Analytics report shows that the global number of connected IoT devices will grow to 29.7 billion active endpoints by 2027. Connecting with a digital infrastructure is no longer a luxury but a necessity.
(Source: IoT Analytics)
According to the IDC Spending Guide, global spending on IoT is forecast to surpass $1 trillion in 2026. Gathering insight, expanding operations, and increasing performance by connecting devices to data networks are the hallmarks of deploying an IoT ecosystem.
IoT development: Is Agile the go-to solution?
Although investing in IoT development is a crucial building block to support an increasingly digital and distributed organizational footprint, how can startups and SMEs become future-proof in the dynamic world? Even the iPhone is being renewed with a new version released every year. How can companies react quickly to the fast-changing market? Agile may be the answer.
Unlike the traditional waterfall methodology, with Agile, you can quickly adjust project’s scope to accommodate the ongoing changes, offering companies more room to be flexible. Reviewing and testing are also incorporated into each sprint, ensuring each release will be nearly flawless.
But that’s easier said than done.
Overcome the dilemma of speed and quality in IoT development
Everything has its challenges, and so does Agile. Balancing between speed and quality is the art that companies need to master to get their Agile IoT development right.
Focus on prioritizing speed can lead to quality compromisation, which may lead to technical debt accumulation that hinders future development. On the other hand, meticulously focusing on the quality might extend the launch time, which affects competitiveness.
To strike a balance between two sides of a scale, a well-defined strategy needs to be set and followed:
- Define clear and measurable goals: Knowing what success looks like and how to measure it is essential. Leaders need to align with the business objectives and strategies to set clear goals for IoT development. User stories and acceptance criteria are also vital as they help clarify the value and purpose of each feature and set a testable way to verify the quality. Tools like lean metrics, KPIs, and OKRs can also support this.
- Set quality standards and manage expectations: Maintaining consistent and coherent quality standards across the business is highly important. Different stakeholders might have their own definitions of quality and priority. Therefore, a set of quality metrics with criteria must be defined to monitor the performance. Synchronized communications among stakeholders are needed to ensure that expectations are mutually agreed.
- Equip with testing strategy: A comprehensive testing strategy with well-defined test cases on various approaches must be set to ensure the development quality is maintained and improved throughout the journey. By doing this, ad-hoc or unprecedented issues will be minimized.
- Implement continuous improvement: To analyze where inefficiencies occur in the development project continuously will help businesses achieve better speed and quality over time. It also helps companies cope with uncertainty and complexity.
- Optimize workflow: Businesses need to eliminate or minimize the sources of waste, such as delays, defects, overproduction, rework, and unnecessary features to optimize the workflow. Tools such as kanban boards and value stream mapping can be used, to improve the flow.
Agile IoT development with Sunbytes
Defining a strategy is not always a piece of cake, especially in IoT development projects. In a Cisco survey released in the IoT World Forum, 60% of respondents emphasized that IoT initiatives often look good on paper but turn out much more complicated than expected. The study pointed out that the most successful organizations engage the IoT development partner at every stage, from strategic planning to data analytics after rollout. It implies that strong partnerships can smooth out the learning curve.
In need of a well-versed partner who is adept at IoT? Meet Sunbytes.
From having a dedicated software development team of experts to leveraging advanced IT staff augmentation and outsourcing services, we can help startups and SMEs navigate through the complex transformation journey with speed and quality and manage the best out of their IoT endeavors.
To learn more about how we can help you scale your team and balance between speed and quality in Agile IoT development, check out our IoT Outsourcing Services page.
Conclusion
In the fast-changing world of IoT, finding the right balance between speed and quality is the key to success. For startups and SMEs, unraveling this dilemma can help them stay ahead of the curve and lead the technology game.
By partnering with a reliable and experienced leading business in the field, such as Sunbytes, you can achieve your IoT development goals with speed and quality, while getting ongoing support and guidance throughout the journey. Don’t miss the opportunity to transform your business with IoT and Agile. Reach out to Sunbytes now and get started on your IoT journey.
