Four Qualities of an Effective Application Development Team

Application development jobs are becoming more prevalent as development languages like Java and operating systems like iOS7 advance further every day. Working as an application developer, you will most likely be working on a team. There are many different roles that one could play on the team, such as: project manager, user interface/user experience, and engineer, just to name a few. Although each position requires different responsibilities and skills, the team as a whole should be equipped with these four components to make for the most effective application development team:

1. Analytical and Technical Skills: It is important for your team to be well versed in analytical skills as well as technical skills to have the best result. Analytical skills are most important when you are tracking the progress of each task that goes into the development. Efficient analytical skills make it easier to sift through data, detect problems, and develop a plan on how to deal with them. Technical skills would be actually writing the language or systems for the application, developing tests for the application, anything that will enhance the performance of the application itself. A combination of both skill sets will keep the development process on the track.
2. Innovative Thinkers: You are working a field that is changing so rapidly. It is important to remain ahead of the curve. Keep up with your research and try and take it one step further. Take a different approach and try viewing the situation as a third party. Sometimes taking yourself out of the equation and looking at the situation as an innocent by-stander can lead to some of your best ideas. Also don’t look at being an innovative thinker as a stressful task. This is your time to sit back and explore the inner workings of your mind. Use this down time to your advantage so you can stay ahead of the game.
3. Work Together: Teamwork is the foundation to every successful team. Although this should go without saying, working together can get complicated pretty quickly if you’re not used to working in groups. Every team has a few problems, but you want to minimize those problems by communicating, respecting one another, and remaining on task. You’re going to be spending a lot of time with these people, your best bet is to get comfortable.
4. Learn to Adjust: Problems will happen, and you need to have a team that keeps focus when problems occur. Tap into the problem solving mode, find the glitch, stop it, fix it, and run it again. This could happen a lot more than once so it’s a good idea for your team to always be prepared.