• Read more about Understanding the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

If there's one buzzword that's dominated the last five years, it's "agile." It's one of those all-too-vague terms that's overused, undervalued, and certainly misused by a large chunk of the dev teams trying to jam it into their software development lifecycle or web development flow. It's not that the tech community doesn't understand the core message behind agile or even that agile is difficult to achieve (given the budget and training).

The problem with agile is that it's incredibly variable and difficult to scale. Iterative development isn't new. And, despite the "word on the street," developers weren't stuck in a Waterfall-loop for the past fifty years. Many agile components have been floating around the dev space since the '80s. The Agile Manifesto — which popularized the term and (in some cases) many of the practices — may have been the Big Bang of iterative development, but it wasn't the spark. These loosely-defined components (e.g., iterative, short cycles, collaborative, etc.) that sit at the heart of Agile have been manifesting in the air for decades.

So, when we look at the larger agile space, almost every organization has its own "version" of agile. In some ways, that's great. The power of agile is its innate flexibility. Unfortunately, this variability makes it difficult to scale agile, since many are trying to scale a one-of-a-kind framework. There's no roadmap... or is there?

Recently, Mobomo was certified in the Scaled Agile Framework (i.e., SAFe). This flexible, scalable, and enterprise-centric agile framework helps organizations build robust, end-to-end agile practices that go beyond product and delivery methods. SAFe penetrates core business models and rethinks how organizations can approach agile in a structured, meaningful, and impactful way.

What is SAFe?

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is an agile-based framework that gives organizations the strategies and guidance they need to execute lean-agile practices at scale. When we look at the average enterprise — which is jam-packed with ongoing projects — finding ways to deliver continuous value that meets business goals and visions is tricky enough. Trying to deliver that value at scale in an environment that's constantly changing is downright challenging. SAFe goes well-beyond building agile teams; it helps define how enterprises can deliver, scale, and manage these projects — as well as how they can breed innovative and iterative practices into their culture.

The SAFe Framework (as of version 5.0) defines 7 "buckets" that enterprises can create to breed agile into their organizations. We'll split these into three more buckets (which will make sense at the end).

Bucket #1: Teams & Delivery

1. Team & Technical Agility

2. Agile Product Delivery

3. Enterprise Solution Delivery

Bucket #2: Product Choice & Culture

4. Lean Portfolio Management

5. Organizational Agility

6. Continuous Learning Culture

Bucket #3: Leadership

7. Lean-Agile Leadership

SAFe Best Practices

Let's quickly cover a few SAFe best-practices.

Mobomo & SAFe

At Mobomo, we're big advocates of agile. We've used agile practices to create projects for NASA, USGS, the US Navy, and thousands of private companies across the globe. As we grew, we saw a need for agility at scale. Recently, we became fully SAFe certified. This is important for us, as a company, but it's also important for our customers. You expect value-driven, customer-centric solutions that adapt and evolve over time. We're going to continue to deliver that value to you.

Want to learn more about Mobomo's services? Interested in our agile practices? Contact us. Let's talk about it.

• Read more about The Pros and Cons of An Agile Engagement Model

Seventy-one percent of organizations use Agile to drive their app development process. By now, most of you have already heard agile-fanatics screaming from the rooftops and corporate execs using the word "agile" as if it's the most modish term on the planet. But what is agile, really? It can be difficult to wade your way through the dense forest of hype artists and the trendy alphabet soup of "agile-like" acronyms to discover the real, tangible meaning of agile.

So, let's cut through the red tape, ignore the trendy buzzwords, and uncover the truths of agile. No. It isn't a catch-all development solution, and it certainly isn't perfect for every development project. In fact, agile has some serious downfalls that seem to be excluded from those 25-page long "Agile Manifestos" that developers and companies are putting out at the speed of light.

To be clear, we're agile "fanatics." We're SAFe certified, and our entire motto (i.e., PUSH) is driven by agile-thinking, and we've used agile methodologies to execute massive-scale projects like NASA.gov 2.0 and The United Service Organizations' app. However, we're going to take a step back. Let's put away the biased hats, ignore the hype, and dig into the nitty-gritty of today's most popular engagement model. Here's everything you need to know about the agile engagement model.
 

What is an Agile Engagement Model?

Engagement models are frameworks that define the relationship between an outsourced development team and your company. In other words, engagement models are "how" your app is getting executed, and your project is being delivered by your development team. There are a wide variety of engagement models, and each of them has specific pros and cons.

Agile engagement involves rapid-fire iterations, immense flexibility, and plenty of collaboration. The overarching goal of agile is (as the name suggests) marketplace agility. So, when the environment outside of your development team changes, agile gives them the tools to quickly react to those changes. Typically, agile development teams have daily meetings, use tools like Kanban boards to execute bite-sized chunks of development, and have the flexibility to rapidly change requirements and needs based on internal and external factors.

In today's fast-paced, digitally-drenched software development lifecycle, agile brings a ton of value to the table — especially on long-term projects that have to cross that oh-so-scary "pit of scaling." According to PMI, 70% of organizations use agile development today, so it's certainly a popular and results-bearing approach to software development.
 

When Does Agile Make Sense?

Since agile requires strong cultural structures, unparalleled collaboration, and iterative-driven strategies, it's best for outsourced projects that leverage in-house teams. In internally-driven development cycles with in-house teams, agile is often used to execute from start-to-finish. However, when you're leveraging outsourced developers, start-to-finish projects may work better with more traditional engagement models like firm-fixed — since they prevent cost-traps and unnecessary cost scaling.

Agile really starts to shine when either:

In the first scenario, your outsourced team will send boots-on-the-ground to your location (or Zoom-on-platform in today's ecosystem). These are people who integrate themselves into your business, so you can push cultural and collaborative requirements onto them. In the second scenario, it doesn't matter as much if you have in-house or external outsourced teams — since you don't have to worry about cost-traps or over-the-scope project requirements. To be clear, agile is very powerful in these two situations. In fact, we would argue that agile can completely change your delivery cycle and help you create more fantastic customer experiences. But there are also plenty of situations where agile isn't strong.
 

Understanding the Pitfalls of Agile

We love Agile. Being SAFe certified, we leverage agile to execute massive government projects and huge client apps. But, despite the hype, there are very real situations where agile simply doesn't make sense. In particular, agile engagement models — meaning you are using outsourced development to execute and grow a project  — are tricky to leverage on from-the-ground-up projects. For starters, agile's iterative and flexible processes don't lend themselves well to budgetary projections. You don't get a firm, upfront quote like you would with firm-fixed. Since project requirements change throughout the lifecycle, agile can breed unpredictability and budgetary concerns into off-the-ground launches (i.e., costs change with the growth of the project and as new demands hit your outsourced team.)

Also, there's a tangible scope issue. Agile development doesn't have a set-in-stone scope. So, it's easy to overthink and over-scope projects with agile. You may start feeding new requirements to your outsourced team on a regular basis. And while these requirements may be things you desperately want, they also incur additional costs. Over time, your budget may grow out-of-control. This can also cause relationship frictions between you and your outsourced partner. The raw flexibility and scalability of agile are exactly what makes it so dangerous for some projects. Requirements can spiral out-of-control.
 

Which Engagement Model Works for Your Business?

There's no such thing as a perfect engagement model. But there is a perfect engagement model for your unique project. Obviously, agile is the most hyped, utilized, and championed engagement model in today's fast-paced development ecosystem. And for good reason. It's amazing. But it isn't ideal for every project. Unfortunately, the disadvantages of agile often get drowned out by the agile fanatics. Not every project fits with agile, especially full builds that leverage outsourced talent.

Will agile work for you? It depends! If you're looking to support an ongoing app or bring over an internal team of outsourced experts, agile could help you execute faster, smarter, and with more purpose. But if you want an off-the-ground app via outsourced talent, agile may put you in a dangerous cost-cyclone that's detrimental to your finances, forecasting, and relationship with your outsourced solution. Are you looking to create an amazing project?

Contact us. We have the skills, experience, and frameworks you need to execute projects across a variety of engagement models. From firm-fixed to agile and beyond, we're here to hand-pick the best solution for your business.

• Read more about What Goes into a Firm-Fix Engagement Model?

Today's software ecosystem is drenched in competition, scope creep, and costs. The average IT project failure rate is over 10%, and one in six IT projects go 200% over-budget. To be clear, this isn't only a modern problem. Companies have been dealing with project failure for decades. In 2004, The Standish Group Report showed that 72% of projects went over-budget. So, we're all still worming around the same core issues that we've been dealing with for years.

Despite advances in technology and the hefty tech stack we all have packed under our armpits, the simple truth is: launching projects is still problematic for the majority of businesses. So, how do you minimize these failure rates and eliminate pesky cost overages? For many, the answer to this question (and often the source of the issue) is their engagement model. Your engagement model is the plan that identified project execution and launch details between your business and whoever is launching your project.

One of the most popular engagement models is the firm-fixed model. This classic engagement model virtually eliminates scope creep, budgeting issues, and timing frictions, but (like most things in life) it also has some serious downsides. Here's what you need to know about firm-fixed, and why it may help you launch smarter and more efficient projects in the future.
 

What is a Firm-Fixed Engagement Model?

A firm-fixed engagement model is a fixed-price contract that requires outsourced development agencies to create a project in a fixed timeline based on a set-in-stone, upfront cost. So, the development team will sit down with the company, discuss the project, and set the upfront scope, scale, time, and price of the piece before development begins. Once the contract has been signed, the company will know exactly how much they need to pay, and when the project will be delivered to them. Any additional costs accrued during the development phase due to unknown or unaccounted for features will be on the outsourced development team — not your company.

There's a safety net that comes with firm-fixed contracts. Developers can't add additional hidden fees, go "over-scope" and charge you the difference, or adjust project requirements halfway through the development process. However, there are also some downfalls to firm-fixed. You can't change the scope of the project mid-way through the development process without incurring additional charges, and firm-fixed doesn't work well with mid-horizon (+3 years) or loosely-defined projects.

Remember, firm-fixed sets the project in "stone." So, if the market changes during the development phase, it's difficult to readjust the project requirements. For some companies, this sounds "anti-agile" or "anti-lean." However, firm-fixed doesn't mean the dev process has to have anti-agile tendencies. This depends solely on your outsourced developers. That being said, firm-fixed does not suit in-house or hired team development — since it's difficult to operate on fixed costs in this type of environment.
 

How Are Costs, Time, and Scope Accounted For in a Firm-Fixed Engagement Model?

The firm-fixed engagement model is a classic. It helps align outsourced devs and businesses to the same goals, and it keeps the entire project on-budget and on-time. So, how does this work in the context of scope, flexibility, and time?

Which Project Work Best With the Firm-Fixed Model?

Traditionally, the firm-fixed engagement model has been primarily leveraged by outsourced teams. That still rings true. In-house teams have little to gain from firm-fixed, since it locks you into a less-agile framework for project development. With in-house teams (both salaried and sourced), it makes sense to use agile models that emphasize iterations, continuous adjustments, and consistent re-works. Everyone is on-site, deeply integrated with your company, and juggling multiple high-impact projects.

Outsourced teams exist in a different space. Firm-fixed helps you align everyone to a clear-cut goal with hyper-predictable cost structures and timelines. You may not want your outsourced team to have the potential to scope creep your project, add costs onto the dev cycle, or miss that ever-so-important deadline. Firm-fixed bakes project requirements directly into the contract.

So, when we look at projects, firm-fixed works great with zero-to-launch projects that have an identified scope. These are things like websites, portals, small software programs, and extensions or updates on apps. Firm-fixed lets you cut through the grease, identify requirements, and get results all within a predictable budget. However, zero-to-launch projects that have a mid-horizon timetable (think +1 year) may not work well with firm-fixed, since you lose agility and the ability to rapidly adjust project requirements to changes in the marketplace or consumer behaviors.

To help clarify the value of the firm-fixed engagement model, let's look at some recent statistics from PMI's Pulse of the Profession — which surveyed +3,000 project managers, 200 senior execs, and 510 PMO directors:

In other words, almost half of projects go over budget, over the timetable, and over scope. That's a big problem! Firm-fixed provides you with an easy-to-use model that circumvents these types of common project issues. Sure. You lose some agility on the front-end, but for zero-to-launch projects that can be completed in under 1 year, firm-fixed is a more affordable, approachable, and predictable model than Agile.

Your Model; Your Way

Creating, launching, and maintaining amazing IT projects isn't easy. We can help. At Mobomo, we specialize in best-fit project execution. Whether you want a rapid-fire project on a firm-fixed contract or a long-term behemoth that's agile and purpose-driven, we can deliver incredible projects that impress boards, amaze customers, and win revenue. Contact us to learn more.

• Read more about Argument for the Open Source Approach

If you engaged in a word association game, one of the first things people would respond when you say “open source” is that it’s free. If any of those people are in the position of purchasing software licenses for a business or organization, that makes open source (a.k.a., free) definitely a benefit worth exploring. Open source has the potential to save thousands of dollars or more, depending on the software and the size of the organization. 

Even though eliminating a budget line item for licensing costs may be enough to convince some organizations that open source is the way to go, it’s actually only one of several compelling reasons to migrate from proprietary platforms to open-source architecture. 

In a debate on open-source vs. licensed platforms, the affirmative argument will include these four, additional points: 

Development Freedom

When businesses provide workstations for their employees, they choose (often inadvertently) the framework on which their organizations operate. For example, if a business buys Dell computers, it will operate within the Microsoft Windows framework. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A business with limited IT and development resources won’t have to worry about how to keep its operating system working or whether business applications or security solutions are available. Microsoft has a line of solutions and partnerships that can provide what they’re looking for. 

With a system built on an open-source platform, on the other hand, it may take more resources and work to keep it running and secure, but it gives developers the freedom to do exactly what the end user needs. You aren’t limited by what a commercial platform enables you to do. 

In some markets, foregoing the status quo for developmental freedom sounds like risk. It’s a major reason that government users lag behind the commercial space in technology. They’re committed to the old systems that they know are robust, secure, and predictable at budget time — even though they’re outdated. When those organizations take a closer look, however, they quickly realize they can negate development costs through greater visibility, efficiency, and productivity that a platform that specifically supports their operations can provide. 

Open-source platforms are also hardware agnostic, giving organizations more latitude when it comes to the computers, mobile devices, and tools they can use, rather than being locked into limited, sometimes expensive, options for hardware. 

Moreover, development freedom delivers more ROI than merely decreasing current costs. Open-source platforms give developers the freedom to customize systems and innovate. If your system enabled you to expand your reach, better control labor costs, and support new revenue streams, what impact could that have on your business?

Interoperability

Enterprises and manufacturers have traditionally guarded their proprietary systems, which gave them an edge in their markets and control over complementary solutions and peripherals end users needed. Those same proprietary systems, however, could now be a business liability. Many markets are moving toward open source to provide greater interoperability, and businesses continuing to use proprietary platforms will increasingly be viewed as less desirable partners. 

Military avionics is a prime example. This industry is migrating to the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard. Administered by the FACE Consortium, this open standard aims to give the U.S. Department of Defense the ability to acquire systems more easily and affordably and to integrate them more quickly and efficiently.  

You’ll also find a preference for open-source architecture in some segments of the tech industry as well, such as robotics. The Robot Operation System (ROS) is a set of open resources of tools, libraries, and conventions that standardizes how robots communicate and share information. ROS simplifies the time-consuming work of creating robotic behaviors, and ROS 2 takes that objective further by giving industrial robot developers support for multirobot systems, safety, and security. 

As Internet of Things (IoT) technology adoption grows, more operations are experiencing roadblocks connecting legacy equipment and enabling the free flow of data — which open-source architecture can overcome. Furthermore, IoT based on open-source components allow networks to expand beyond the four walls of a facility to connect with business partners, the supply chain, and end users. The Linux Foundation’s Zephyr Project, for example, promotes open-source, real-time operating systems (RTOS) that enables developers to build secure, manageable systems more easily and quickly. 

Faster Time to Market

Open source projects can also move more quickly than developing on a proprietary platform. You may be at the mercy of the vendor during the development process if you require assistance, and certifying hardware or applications occur on their timelines. 

That process moves much more quickly in an open source community. Additionally, members of the community share. Some of the best developers in the industry work on these platforms and often make their work available to other developers so they don’t need to start from scratch to include a feature or function their end user requires. A modular system can include components that these developers have created, tested, and proven — and that have fewer bugs than a newly developed prototype. 

Developers, using prebuilt components and leveraging an open source community’s expertise, can help you deploy your next system more quickly than starting from ground zero. 

Business Flexibility

Open-source architecture also gives a business or organization advantages beyond the IT department. With open source, you have more options. The manager of a chain of resorts facing budget cuts, for example, could more easily find ways to decrease operating expenses if her organization’s system runs on an open-source platform. A chain that operates on a commercial platform, however, may have to find other options, such as reducing staff with lay-offs.  

Open source architecture also decreases vendor lock-in. In a world that’s changing at a faster and faster pace, basing your systems open-source architecture gives you options if a vendor’s company is acquired and product quality, customer service, and prices change. It also gives you flexibility if industry standards or regulations require that you add new features or capabilities that your vendor doesn’t provide, decreasing the chances you’ll need to rip and replace your IT system.

The Price of Open Source

To be perfectly honest in the open source vs. commercial platform debate, we have to admit there is a cost associated with using these platforms. They can’t exist without their communities’ contributions of time, talent, and support. 

At Mobomo, for example, we’re an active part of the Drupal open-source content management system (CMS) platform. Our developers are among the more than 1 million members of this community that have contributed more than 30,000 modules. We also take the opportunity to speak at Drupal community events and give back to the community in other ways. 

Regardless of how much we contribute to the community, however, it’s never exceeded the payback. It’s enabled lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for us and our clients, saving millions of dollars in operating expenses. It has ramped up our ability to create and innovate. It’s also allowed us to help build more viable organizations and valuable partnerships. 

The majority of our industry agrees with us. The State of Enterprise Open Source report in 2019 from Red Hat asked nearly 1,000 IT leaders around the world how strategically important open source is to an enterprises’ infrastructure software plans. Among respondents, 69 percent reported that it is extremely important, citing top benefits as lower TCO, access to innovation, security, higher-quality software, support, and the freedom to customize. 

Only 1 percent of survey respondents said it wasn’t important at all. 

Which side of the open-source vs. commercial platforms argument do you come down on?

Contact us to drop us a line and tell us about your project.

• Read more about Why Design Thinking is Key

“Design for the user.”

It seems like a common sense approach. After all, if your website or your custom app aren’t designed with the end user in mind, will it get used?

Common sense notwithstanding, there’s a large gulf between the idea of designing for the user and the actual implementation of it. Plans go astray, different stakeholders have different ideas about what the user would want, and of course, there are always practical considerations like timeline and budget to consider.

Fortunately, design thinking can help project teams establish clear markers that keep them on track toward a seamless, positive user experience.

What Is Design Thinking?

Design thinking goes beyond the surface-level “design for the user” philosophy. It involves a highly tangible, iterative process that allows teams to move past their own viewpoints and levels of understanding in order to gain deep insight into the user’s needs and identify new strategies and solutions that might not have been immediately evident.

In short, design thinking is a process that gives teams concrete steps to help them get out of their own heads and into the user’s, to ensure the team is meeting the user’s genuine needs.

How Does Design Thinking Work With UX?

Most models of design thinking involve five steps:

1. Empathize: Understand your user’s pain points and greatest wishes.
2. Define: Figure out what problem the user is experiencing.
3. Ideate: Let creativity run wild and break down assumptions or traditions.
4. Prototype: Build a model that you can test with real users.
5. Test: Learn what works, what doesn’t, and then adjust.

Let’s explore these in more detail, in the context of UX design:

Empathize

The most successful apps and websites are those that were designed with the user firmly in mind. The folks at Interaction Design Foundation agree, saying that UX tasks “can vary greatly from one organization to the next, but they always demand designers to be the users’ advocate and keep the users’ needs at the center of all design and development efforts.”

But to do that, it’s necessary to understand who the user is and what they want and need. It’s also important to recognize if more than one user persona is in the picture.

Here’s an example: Let’s say we want to create a video app for children ages 6 to 12, with kid-friendly content.

In this situation, there are two main users that we need to understand: the children, and their parents.

• The children want intuitive (intuitive for them, not us) navigation, an easy way to binge-watch content from specific creators, and a fun way to interact with the creators and other viewers.
• The parents? They’re concerned about online predators and inappropriate content and want to make sure they have a way to keep an eye on things without having to constantly watch over their child’s shoulder.

These are fairly basic descriptions of user needs – and to really get a good handle on what each end-user wants from the UX, there’s only one foolproof method: talk to them. There is simply no replacement for sitting down with users and getting a first-hand account of what they need, like, hate, fear, enjoy, and find frustrating.

Define

The main challenge in this step is to clearly articulate the problem that needs to be solved, or the need that must be met.

Ideally, near the end of the Define process, there should be a clear answer to the blanks in the statement, “The user needs to _____________ because ________________.”

From there should arise a problem statement for the team to drive towards, such as “Create an easy and accurate way for both users and parents to filter and find video content.”

To get to this point, it’s vital for teams to take the data they gathered during the Empathize stage and process it in an organized, systematic fashion, unpacking the findings and discussing what they mean. A good practice is to keep asking “why,” digging down past surface-level problems and into the deeper, emotion-driven issues. From there, the data can be used to map out a User Journey, breaking down precisely how the user might interact with the app or site and what they’re looking for.

Ideate

In the ideate stage of design thinking, assumptions and constraints are thrown out the window. This can be much harder than it sounds – as we become more experienced, we often fall into certain patterns or draw on our existing knowledge, making it difficult to look at things from a completely different perspective.

In the ideate stage, “stupid” questions are often the key to unlocking new avenues, because those types of questions tend to disrupt long-accepted, “obvious” practices that should have gone challenged long before.

In the context of UX, the Ideate stage is crucial – it is too easy for teams to fall back into best practices or standard ways of designing the user experience. By applying design thinking, a team opens itself up for those “eureka!” moments that are only possible when the mind is open to every possibility, and it’s those moments that lead to groundbreaking design.

Prototype

This is where the rubber meets the road. Once a team has come up with what they think is the best possible way to design the UX for an app or website, they need to test the feasibility of that idea. And they need to test it with real users.

The prototype step can have multiple stages, from initial sketches, to wireframes, to actual working prototypes, all the way to beta versions that are available for a limited number of public downloads. The team may even create multiple prototypes if they’re not certain which idea will fly with users.

Test

Once the prototype is created, the team must learn — from real users — what works, what doesn’t, and then focus on iteration. To make the most of the testing stage, it’s absolutely crucial for the team to have in place mechanisms to gather and assess feedback. The more detailed the feedback is, the better the chances of fine-tuning any little UX issues that could harm the success of the finished product.

During the testing phase, it’s important that the testers not be coached or steered toward a certain type of feedback. Ideally, the team should refrain from telling testers what the purpose of the site or app is, or how it works. If testers can figure it out easily and accurately without any guidance, the UX is definitely on the right track. On the other hand, if the testers are confused about what the app or site is for, or how to use it, then both the messaging and the UX need some work.

The principles of design thinking can be applied to a multitude of challenges, and these principles truly shine when they’re applied toward the UX design of a website or application. By following a proven process that involves, above all, listening to the user, teams can create a finished product that will be enthusiastically embraced, adopted, and used for years.

Contact us now and find out how Mobomo's approach to design can benefit you.

• Read more about Mobomo Named Clutch Top 1000 Companies Global 2019

For the second time in a row, Mobomo has been awarded the Clutch Top 1000 Companies in the world! This award highlights only 1% of the companies on the platform and is the most exclusive award offered by Clutch. Companies are ranked based on the quality and recency of verified client reviews, as well as the companies’ market presence and industry leadership.

With passion and expertise in creating cutting-edge, functional, and successful experiences, Mobomo has become one of the top mobile app development companies in the Washington, D.C. area.

In a recent project reviewed on Clutch, Mobomo received 5 stars for developing a custom web portal and Android and iOS apps.

It has been an honor to receive this recognition as 2019 comes to an end. Mobomo is grateful for the support we have from our amazing clients, who have taken the time to provide detailed reviews on Clutch. We are excited to see what 2020 will bring for our team and clients!

About Clutch
Clutch (clutch.co) is a business to business research firm located in Washington, D.C. They are best known for connecting agencies and software solution companies in order to enhance business goals across businesses. Their ratings and reviews platform publishes the most extensive and referenced client reviews in the B2B services market.

• Read more about NOAA Fisheries Wins Webby Award in the Science Category

NOAA Fisheries (www.fisheries.noaa.gov) has won the 2019 Webby Award in the Science category!

Started in the fall of 2016, the ambitious project focused on merging all disparate Fisheries web properties under a single architecture, is jointly-led by the Office of Communications’ Director Kate Naughten and Chief Information Officer Roy Varghese. With support from their teams, the new NOAA Fisheries website was designed and built from the ground up to better serve their mission as stewards of the nation’s ocean resources and their habitat.

With a new design and content management platform, NOAA Fisheries was created using UI/UX tools such as card sorts, surveys, and journey mapping. Utilizing the findings, NOAA Fisheries designed and built a website that caters to all of its disparate users, including fisherman, scientists, and students.

The analyses and designs paid off. Since the launch of the new website, the customer satisfaction score has increased by 10%, from 65% to 75%, with 96% of users stating that the information they were seeking was easily found. This combined with a mobile-first website has also helped increase site traffic by 29% year-over-year, including a 67% jump in traffic during Shark Week when compared to the previous iteration of the website.

Mobomo has been thrilled to be part of an award winning team at NOAA Fisheries and look forward to solving new challenges with new innovations.

• Read more about Mobomo: Masters of Development, According to Clutch.co

Technology, updates, and trends throw things at us quickly, particularly in the web design and development worlds. Knowing what to do or how to adapt can be hard when you’re looking to update or strengthen your company’s digital presence, but that’s where Mobomo steps in.

With our expertise in creating cutting-edge, functional, and successful experiences, we’re pros at what we do, and we’ve become one of the top mobile app development companies in D.C. thanks to our passion and knowledge. In a recently published listing of which developers in the area reign supreme, B2B research and reviews agency Clutch ranked us no. 3 in a field of 100.

This distinction not only speaks volumes about the general quality of our mobile and web UI/UX, design, and development services but also reveals how strong our market presence, prior industry experience, and client feedback are individually. Thanks to such a thorough analysis from Clutch, we know that we stand out from top to bottom.

Nearly 20 reviews vouch for us, with our customers providing feedback like this:

“I’ve had ups and downs with contractors over the course of 20 years, but it’s always been smooth with Mobomo. We’ve developed a trust and have open, transparent communication. They don’t try to skip over us to work with the client. When they say they’re going to get something done by a deadline, it’s done. We’ve been pleased with the work they’re doing, the product they’ve created, and the way they’re managing the project.”

The Manifest and Visual Objects, sister companies of Clutch, have also appraised our work and come to similarly positive conclusions about what our team can do for clients.

Business news website The Manifest ranked us highly in its collection of web developers, featuring us among the top 100 companies in the entire world, while portfolio curation platform Visual Objects praised our work as mobile app developers in showcasing examples of our industry experience.

We’re grateful for all of the support that we’ve received and how this recognition reflects so well on the progress, people, and projects here. As our CEO said, "Mobomo is excited to be recognized by both Clutch and our clients as leaders in the industry. Our team of experienced designers, engineers, and product owners all take pride in their work and are ready to continue pushing boundaries and blazing technological trails."

Interested in hearing more about our approach, speaking to a member of our team, or learning more about how Mobomo can (and will) set your web or app experience apart from the rest? Reach out to us here. Let’s see what we can achieve together!

• Read more about DOI's Drupal Developer Support Services BPA awarded to Mobomo, LLC

Vienna, VA March 19, 2019—Mobomo,

Mobomo, LLC is pleased to announce our award as a prime contractor on the $25M Department of Interior (DOI) Drupal Developer Support Services BPA . Mobomo brings an experienced and extensive Drupal Federal practice team to DOI.  Our team has launched a large number of award winning federal websites in both Drupal 7 and Drupal 8, to include www.nasa.gov, www.usgs.gov, and www.fisheries.noaa.gov.,These sites have won industry recognition and awards including the 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 Webby Award; two 2017 Innovate IT awards; and the 2018 MUSE Creative Award and the Acquia 2018 Public Sector Engage award.

DOI has been shifting its websites from an array of Content Management System (CMS) and non-CMS-based solutions to a set of single-architecture, cloud-hosted Drupal solutions. In doing so, DOI requires Drupal support for hundreds of websites that are viewed by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, including its parent website, www.doi.gov, managed by the Office of the Secretary. Other properties include websites and resources provided by its bureaus  (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, National Park Service, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey) and many field offices.

This BPA provides that support. The period of performance for this BPA is five years and it’s available agency-wide and to all bureaus as a vehicle for obtaining Drupal development, migration, information architecture, digital strategy, and support services. Work under this BPA will be hosted in DOI’s OpenCloud infrastructure, which was designed for supporting the Drupal platform.

• Read more about Mobomo Wins Awards for Partner of the Year and Growth Partner of the Year

Vienna, VA March 13, 2019—Mobomo, a leading web, mobile app, and cloud-solution provider, is proud to announce that it has won two awards from the Acquia Partner Awards’ Public Sector segment: Partner of the Year and Growth Partner of the Year. The Acquia Partner Awards recognizes the success and contributions of the partners throughout the course of the year working with the Acquia Platform. The Growth Partner of the Year award specifically recognizes growth from the previous year, while Partner of the Year honors the overall business performance.

When asked about the recent award recognition, Mobomo CEO Brian Lacey offered a few thoughts, “We are humbled by Acquia’s recent recognition. This company has been a reliable, trustworthy partner of ours. Between our solution expertise and their cutting-edge cloud services, we are glad that our partnership is not only financially successful, but that we can work together to create innovative solutions for federal organizations like NOAA Fisheries, which increase user engagement on their sites and streamline their information systems.”

The project was awarded based on Mobomo’s collaboration with Acquia and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries to revamp NOAA’s website. In 2016, Mobomo and Acquia worked with NOAA Fisheries to redesign their online presence, streamlining the site’s content contribution and dissemination system.

Mobomo also credits Acquia’s cloud system for facilitating the process and ensuring that the NOAA Fisheries project was a success. Mobomo selected Acquia as its application development partner for its quality of cloud services, as well as its compliance and relationship with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). The government-wide program standardizes the security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring of cloud products and services. Acquia holds an Authority to Operate (ATO) certificate, which FedRAMP only grants to cloud providers that meet strict conditions.

Lacey also added, “We are honored by the awards, but more so by our partnership in general. We are excited to continue this fruitful relationship, collaborate on future projects, and help other companies and organizations optimize their online presence with advanced solutions and efficient cloud services.”

For more information, please contact Mobomo at:
(888) 676-1049
hello@mobomo.com
www.mobomo.com

Source: https://www.acquia.com/resources/case-study/noaa-fisheries