AROBS

Custom software development projects represent the core of our developers' activities, as the solutions and systems we design and implement must meet well defined and specific business needs. Bespoke software lies also at the heart of AROBS' own software products, customization being almost always required to integrate these solutions with the customer's business systems. Whether we talk of our vehicle fleet monitoring system or a typical outsourced software project, the implementation will present unique components that require the combined effort of teams from the customer and AROBS to tackle.

Seamless communication with the customer, a constant involvement of the end user, and a well tuned Quality Management System are the main prerequisites for a successful bespoke software development project, which are all met at AROBS.

Most of our custom solutions are developed iteratively, using the SCRUM Agile methodology, with the constant and substantial involvement of the customer. Regular meetings between customer representatives and AROBS team members are scheduled to discuss project operations and tasks for the next iterations or major releases, as well as strategic issues concerning the project management and governance.  The communication methods chosen vary according to the nature of the issues discussed and include video calls, voice group conferences, Skype chat, emails, meeting at the customer or AROBS site.

To make sure any deviations from the desired track can be corrected in the shortest time possible, development is split into short iterations of 2 to 4 weeks (usually 2 weeks) and the project goals are set at an iteration level (e.g.: features and functions to be implemented). The product backlog (the full list of features desired for the product) can be defined before starting the development, situation in which a Sprint backlog is prepared before each sprint iteration. This backlog includes the part of the product backlog that must be solved during one development iteration. To develop top quality products, one should have in mind that a fixed (untouchable) product backlog is not advisable. The likelihood of getting a clear and comprehensive picture of the best possible features to address the problems your solution is meant to solve and the best ways to implement them properly from the start is close to zero. New questions pop-up and ideas get refined throughout the project life-cycle and a well implemented Agile SCRUM minimizes the costs of the unavoidable errors and omissions.  During the sprint reviews that take place at the end of each development iteration results are presented and demos made. The customer can thus check the results and spot errors before they would do real damage and cause significant losses.