The Kobiton Mobile Maturity Assessment: Build a Roadmap to Future-Proof Your Testing Strategy

When considering new tactics and strategies for improving your team’s approach to mobile app delivery, it can be difficult to decide where to start. Chances are, you’ve been a part of a retrospective where multiple potential areas of improvement were discussed. More often than not, different teams and team members will have unique perspectives of what should be improved next. A performance engineer may advocate for a more robust load testing framework while a QA Manager vocalizes the need for better communication practices. Even if there’s consensus - it can be overwhelming to decide what to prioritize first.

In the same way you can’t cram every new feature into your next sprint, it’s not practical to overhaul your entire approach to mobile app development, testing, and delivery in one fell swoop. The odds of sustained improvement over time can increase greatly by building a roadmap with prioritized action items.

When it comes to building an action plan for improving mobile delivery, that’s where Kobiton’s Mobile Maturity Assessment comes into the picture. This comprehensive framework is designed to help you understand your strengths and bring awareness to areas of refinement - while also providing a clear roadmap for continual improvement.

What is Mobile Maturity?

In this context, ‘Mobile Maturity’ refers to your organization’s level of sophistication and effectiveness in mobile app development, testing, and DevOps practices. When all teams work together in a cohesive manner, it unlocks the ability to deliver a high quality mobile experience - without draining time or resources. On a periodic basis, it’s important to bring stakeholders from various teams together to examine the entire ‘mobile assembly line’ from design to operations.

By doing so, you can break down silos and make incremental improvements that translate to long-term success.

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The Kobiton Mobile Maturity Model (M3)

The M3 assessment consists of about 40 questions that can be answered in about 30-45 minutes. As a Kobiton services partner, experts from Perform can facilitate a virtual discussion with stakeholders to complete the assessment. Or, we can send the questions to you ahead of time.

Either way, the next step is to review the findings based on the inputs over a subsequent call. During the follow-up, you’ll receive a full breakdown on ‘maturity scores’ in areas like UX, performance, functional reliability, accessibility, and so on. We also share how you stack up against other mobile app teams in your industry.

If you continue to participate in M3 workshops on a quarterly basis, the model also tracks any incremental improvement (or regression) over time. That way, you can celebrate the milestones and redirect attention as needed.

What Kind of Organizations Should Participate?

In terms of stakeholder involvement, the M3 is most impactful when representation from development, QA, DevOps participates. This is especially true for when leadership and practitioners come together to compile their feedback.

We like to think of Kobiton’s Mobile Maturity Assessment as a ‘diagnostic tool’ to make it easy for teams to benchmark their practices. If you’re starting from a modest beginning, the M3 provides a clear set of measurable steps that you use to accelerate productivity. It’s also valuable for well-established teams who are looking to maintain their level of sophistication and find a new competitive edge.

What’s in Store for Each Team?

• Development Practices: Accelerate
• Testing Methodologies: Scale automated test execution and optimize performance testing
• DevOps Processes: Improve app delivery and refine application performance monitoring

The Process for Participating in a Kobiton M3 With Experts From Perform

As you engage in an M3 workshop, your main point of contact will be a member of Perform’s Client Strategy team along with one of our technical experts. Here’s a quick overview of the process from start to finish.

1. Request an Mobile Strategy Session (30 Mins)

First, to book an initial meeting with Perform. This time will be used to discuss the focus areas of your mobile project and start the planning for a successful M3 assessment.

2. Schedule the M3 Assessment

Next, it’s a matter of gathering the right stakeholders for participation. This can include leadership and practitioners from development, QA, DevOps, and so on. While the assessment itself can take as little as 20 minutes, we recommend setting aside a 1-hr block for a walkthrough with your team. We’ll moderate the session to keep things on track, but we find this to be a valuable time for teams to share insights and feedback across departments.

2. Complete the M3 Assessment (60 Mins Recommended)

Typically, groups finish the assessment in anywhere from 30-45 minutes. Remaining time in the 1-hr block can be used for open discussion and brainstorming - and of course, scheduling the readback. If any team members aren’t able to attend the first group discussion, we can send the questions ahead of time and compile their feedback.

3. Review Customized Roadmap (60 Mins Recommended)

Once all the questions are completed, Perform and Kobiton’s team will analyze the inputs and compile a comprehensive report. Using Kobiton’s proprietary data along with industry benchmarks, your report will show how you stack up compared to similar organizations and provide recommendations on how to improve maturity

This can be done in as little as 30 minutes, but we typically find it best to have an hour scheduled to let discussions about findings run their course.

4. Implement Your Custom Plan

The M3 assessment is designed to provide recommendations that can be implemented by your in-house team. If you’d like to accelerate the process, the consulting team at Perform can share custom packages for areas like training, managed services, staffing, and so on. Either way, you’ll receive a 20+ page report that’s yours to keep

5. Ongoing Improvement and Reassessment

Assuming you work with Perform’s experts to implement recommendations and drive improvement, we’ll facilitate follow-up sessions on a quarterly basis. Each future assessment will be stack-ranked against the previous one so that you can easily visualize progress in each area.

Key Benefits of Kobiton’s Maturity Model Assessment

Here’s a quick review of the key outcomes that our clients find after participating in an M3 and implementing the recommendations.

1. Enhanced Strategic Alignment and Product Quality

• Align Your Efforts: Ensure your mobile development and testing efforts are perfectly aligned with your broader business objectives - leading to faster time to market without sacrificing product quality
• Boost User Satisfaction: Focus on critical areas like UX, reliability, and accessibility to significantly enhance product quality - resulting in higher user satisfaction and retention rates.

2. Accelerated Development Cycles and Cost Efficiency

• Streamline Workflows: Optimize your processes to create streamlined workflows and faster feedback loops - cutting down your time to market dramatically.
• Reduce Costs: Identify ways to utilize resources more efficiently, automate repetitive tasks, and refine your testing strategies - leading to substantial reductions in operational costs.

3. Risk Mitigation and Competitive Advantage

• Protect Your Brand: Implement robust strategies to minimize the risk of major bugs or performance issues -  safeguarding your brand’s reputation and earning user trust.
• Lead Your Market: Enhance your ability to adopt new technologies and deliver high-quality mobile experience - setting your organization apart in the competitive landscape.