August 1, 2015 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Sticking to established sprint windows, whether 1, 2, 3 or 4 weeks in duration, is a state of mind that requires discipline. Things don’t always go to plan during a sprint. Elaboration of requirements, refinements to designs, organizational change, other external influences can result in the development team not getting through all the planned features […]
Read more
The effects of an underpowered technology infrastructure on notification speed
April 23, 2018 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
In an earlier post, Hop to it…the hops a notification message takes, we outlined the hops a notification message takes to reach a mobile device and the effect those hops have on notification delivery speed. To recall, there were four primary hops, or steps, that a notification message takes. The physical technology infrastructure underpinning the […]
Read more
Hop to it…the hops a notification message takes
March 28, 2018 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
In our post “Who likes queues anyway?“, we introduced the first factor affecting the speed of app notifications from the time of sending to the time of receiving. This post talks about a second factor, the hope, or steps, the notification message takes along the way. There are generally four (4) steps in the process […]
Read more
Who likes queues anyway? Service agents do.
March 14, 2018 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Notifications can experience variable delays on their way to mobile devices, no matter the notification or mobile app. Sometimes notifications can seem to arrive fast and sometimes they can seem to arrive slow. This is largely due to five key factors: 1) a notification queuing model, 2) the number of hops a notification takes along […]
Read more
How we build a MVP in just 4-weeks!
October 2, 2017 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Continuing with sharing of how we work in a lean and agile way, we’d like to now share how we develop a minimum viable product (MVP) for a mobile app in just 4-weeks. Before starting development of the MVP, we like to make sure everyone is on the same page on what will develop. Our […]
Read more
How we do UX design in only 7-days!
June 1, 2017 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Everything we do, including UX design, is in a lean and agile way. Three UX design studio sessions held over 7 consecutive days covers the users and their needs, the information and content to satisfy those needs and the visual presentation and interactions with that content. The first UX design studio session takes 3-hours (a […]
Read more
How we do Product Ideation in just 5 days!
May 15, 2017 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 1 comment
As an advocate and practitioner of lean and agile methodologies, we can form a customer’s idea for a mobile app in just 5 days! How do we do this? Careful planning, scripted ideation forums, template deliverable and an obsessive focus on time management. Careful planning upfront to secure and align all participants for the 5-days […]
Read more
Announcing Arter Kirkwood & Associates
December 23, 2016 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
We are pleased to announce that in 2017, Arter Mobilize Inc will be operating as Arter Kirkwood & Associates in recognition of Evan Kirkwood’s contribution to the success of Arter Mobilize. Evan exudes qualities that are at the foundation of our business including superior customer service and professionalism, strong leadership and teamwork, exceptional technical competence […]
Read more
MVP: how minimum is minimum?
January 8, 2016 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Lean and agile philosophies place heavy emphasis on the notion of a minimum viable product (MVP) when considering bringing a new product to market or into operation. MVP is fairly commonplace: well known but not well understood, very much like the terms “lean” and “agile” are. I often hear people proclaim their teams are lean […]
Read more
Ending a sprint: a state of mind and discipline
August 1, 2015 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Sticking to established sprint windows, whether 1, 2, 3 or 4 weeks in duration, is a state of mind that requires discipline. Things don’t always go to plan during a sprint. Elaboration of requirements, refinements to designs, organizational change, other external influences can result in the development team not getting through all the planned features […]
Read more
When Not to Do It Yourself (DIY)…Iconography
May 18, 2015 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Developing a custom mobile App for your business need not involve developing literally everything from scratch. This is particularly true of icons. Many get caught up in creative design that they unknowingly (or knowingly) bleed into designing their own icons. Not only is this time consuming but also potentially wasteful, particularly when those custom icons […]
Read more