Reducing Time to Market (TTM) is crucial for both businesses and development studios, but it's often assumed that speeding up the process means sacrificing quality.
What if we told you that’s not the case? Reducing TTM is absolutely possible without lowering the bar for quality.
So, find out which proven strategies are our go-to for hitting the mark on both speed and quality.
What is Time to Market (TTM)?
It’s a key benchmark in app development and serves as one of the most important performance indicators (KPIs).
Simply put, it is the amount of time it takes for an app to go from the initial idea to being available for download. This process includes several stages:
→ Specifications & Analysis,
→ Strategy & Planning,
→ Design,
→ Development,
→ Testing,
→ Deployment,
→ Maintenance.
What Can Delay Time to Market?
Our team knows there are a few factors that can slow down TTM. Here are some of the most common ones we watch out for:
Scope Creep
Adding new features or changes during development, known as scope creep, can delay the project. Clarifying and sticking to the agreed-upon scope is crucial to avoid pushing back deadlines.
App Complexity
It’s no secret that more complex apps with many advanced features, such as AI, complex integrations, or custom back-end development, naturally take longer to build.
Want To Know How Long It Takes To Build An App With FlutterFlow?
Waterfall Development Methodology
The traditional waterfall approach can be slow because it follows a strict, sequential process. Every phase must be completed before moving on to the next, so any delay or adjustment in one phase can slow everything down. However, for certain projects – like those with clear requirements and minimal changes (e.g., internal business apps) – the waterfall method can be a good fit. In the end, it depends on the project.
10 Strategies to Reduce Time to Market
After handling many different projects, our team has gained valuable insights into which strategies and techniques deliver the best results:
1 Well-Defined Project Management and Right In-House Team Allocation
The development process can be complex and challenging for both your business and the development team. That’s where our project managers come in with their well-defined and effective project management system for every phase.
It all starts with the first task of our project managers: deciding team allocation – assigning individuals with the right skills and expertise to the right tasks. This approach ensures a smooth workflow, faster decision-making, and a more efficient development process, ultimately saving time and reducing risks.
Read More About Our Project Management Process.
2 Record and Review Client Meetings
We prioritize strong partnerships through clear, transparent communication. Regular meetings help minimize misunderstandings and reduce stress for both parties during development.
To ensure accuracy, we record all client meetings. This allows us to refer back to details when executing tasks or developing features, ensuring alignment with client expectations. By actively listening to feedback and asking the right questions, we can identify potential issues early, preventing misunderstandings and reducing the risk of rework.
Find Out The 5 Things You Need To Consider When Choosing The Right App Development Partner.
3 Pre-Development UX/UI
Our design team creates a design system and defines the UX and UI early in the process to ensure that user interactions are clear and well-structured.
It’s crucial to avoid uncertainty about how a user will interact with the app. Defining these elements early means developers won’t have to guess later on how features will function when users interact with the interface. This upfront planning again minimizes rework and ensures a smoother, faster development process.
4 Reusable Components for Efficiency
To save development time, we adopt the practice of creating reusable components.
When we identify recurring features that will be used throughout the app, we design them as modular components. For example, instead of recreating buttons, form fields, or other UI elements from scratch, we develop them once and reuse them across multiple sections of the app. This approach saves significant time in both the development and testing phases.
We also plan ahead for all the different states or variations of each component to ensure that future design changes or additions can be handled quickly, further accelerating the development process.
5 Parallel Development of Front-End and Back-End
We take a parallel development approach, where the front-end and back-end teams work simultaneously. While the back-end team focuses on setting up the database, the front-end team works with dummy data to start building the user interface.
This allows us to test core features and iterate on the design while the back-end is being developed, rather than waiting for the back-end to be fully completed before starting front-end work. Once the back-end is ready, integrating it with the front-end is quick and straightforward because we've already planned how the data will be structured and handled. This parallel workflow reduces waiting times and accelerates the overall development cycle.
6 Minimizing External Dependencies
We make a conscious effort to minimize the use of external dependencies, such as third-party libraries or services.
While these can be useful, relying too heavily on them can introduce risks and delays. For example, if a third-party service experiences downtime or changes its API, it can disrupt the development process. Where possible, we build custom solutions that are fully under our control, ensuring a smoother and more predictable development cycle. However, we do use external dependencies carefully when they provide significant value and are necessary to speed up development.
7 Third-Party Libraries or Services When Necessary
On the other hand, we also recognize that not every feature needs to be built from scratch.
If there is a third-party service or library that meets our needs, we prioritize leveraging it. For example, using existing payment gateways, map services, or authentication libraries allows us to save time and resources. In situations where a reliable solution is available and integrates well with our system, it’s often more efficient to adopt the existing service than to build a custom solution.
8 Embracing Back-End as a Service (BaaS) Platforms
When developing applications, particularly for startups or projects with tight timelines, we leverage Back-End as a Service (BaaS) platforms like Supabase.
These platforms provide ready-to-use back-end infrastructure that simplifies and speeds up the development process. With Supabase, for instance, we can set up real-time databases, authentication, and storage without having to build the back end from scratch. And using BaaS platforms significantly reduces the time spent on back-end development and allows our team to focus on the core features and user experience of the app.
9 AI and Automation
AI and automation are essential for automating repetitive tasks such as code generation, bug detection, and testing.
This accelerates the development process and allows our team to focus on more complex, value-driven aspects of the app, such as optimizing the user experience through personalized recommendations, integrating advanced features like natural language processing (NLP) for smarter interactions, and ensuring the app's performance and scalability with load balancing and cloud architecture.
Plus, automated testing frameworks help us identify bugs and issues early in the development cycle, significantly reducing the risk of delays and ensuring that the app meets the highest standards of quality.
10 Cross-Platform Solutions
While native development may be the best choice for certain apps, others can benefit from a cross-platform approach.
Using FlutterFlow, we frequently develop apps that are compatible across multiple platforms – iOS, Android, web, and desktop – by leveraging a single, unified codebase. This approach not only saves time but also minimizes the risk of inconsistencies between different operating systems, ensuring a seamless experience across all platforms.
Learn More About The Differences Between Native And Cross-Platform Development.
In the tech world, we all know that the quicker we can launch, the better.
A fast development team gives you the first-mover advantage, helping you monetize, build brand recognition, and stay ahead of the competition. Plus, quicker deployment means faster user feedback, allowing you to fine-tune features and improve the UX based on real usage.
Speed is essential in the app world, but so is quality.
At the end of the day, it’s about finding the right balance – moving fast without compromising on what matters most: quality.
