Businesses need to change app developers at times for various reasons. Whether your company has out-scaled your developer or you want better services, changing developers can be very difficult. 

Knowledge and Resource Transfer 

It is essential to have transparency between your old and new developers. You need to set up knowledge transfer sessions where all details on the ongoing projects are shared. This includes all of the documentation that is relevant to the app, the code that has been finalized or under review, and the following credentials: 

• Google Play Store dev accounts & certificates
• Apple App Store dev accounts & certificates
• AWS or other cloud hosting accounts, .pem file, etc
• Database management service accounts & credentials
• Other third-party service account credentials

It is also important for the older developers to forego any ownership of the code unless it falls under their intellectual property. Having everything well documented during the change in developers is important to avoid any potential legal trouble.

Documentation 

Any code written by your development team needs to be transferred to your new team. The documentation for the code and the development roadmap need to be shared to make the transition smoother as well. 

The source code, Github repositories, logos and other assets need to be transferred to your new developers. Your new developers need to be familiar with cloud migration or legacy migration to make the transition easier. 

If things did not end well with your old developers, you may need to work with your new development team. The new dev team will need to fill in all the gaps in documentation and assets that are required to continue your existing projects.

Transfer of Ownership 

You need to check the IP/Source Code of your project to ensure the ownership of all the code belongs to you. Assuming you have a professional relationship with your old developers, the transition process should be smooth.

All certificates that were used to create your apps on Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or any other web app store need to be transferred to the new developer. All private .pem and p.12 keys for server instances should be transferred to your new developers as well. 

Your old developer has to relinquish all ownership of code. The company will also have to declare on record that they will not retain any code or other details about your old projects. 

Code Quality Reports

As a business owner, your goal should be to improve your app when you change developers. If you are satisfied with your old developer, then your apps should maintain the same quality going forward. By using code quality reports, you can track performance and compare your developers.

There are tools available that check your code and ensures it is working as intended, is consistent, and is documented well. There will be hiccups when changing developers, and manual code reviews don’t cut it for such situations. 

Software code quality reports are much more efficient and are not susceptible to human error. According to a study, coders are approximately 50% efficient at finding bugs. This is why most testing is done via independent software testers.

And with your development team changing, the odds of finding bugs go up even higher because of complexities. Maintaining quality is not just the responsibility of your new development team but also your organizations. It would be best if you are transparent with your new developers to ensure you are on the same page to get the best results. 

Assessment

Once you have transferred all documentation, it is important to assess the state of your current project. You need to check if the following parameters are met: 

Did the project meet your business requirements? 

What architectural decisions went wrong? 

Is the development approach correct? 

Has the app been tested enough? 

Evaluation of the project management system. 

Evaluation of the quality assurance system. 

Once you assess the above factors, find out all of the things that can be improved upon and communicate them with your new developers. It will make the transition phase much better for you and your dev team. 

Planning

Once the transition is fully complete, it is essential to plan your next steps. Guaranteeing the success of an app is possible if you have the right developmental approach Using consistent technologies like cloud infrastructure or having the appropriate development tools go a long way in improving the development phase for your business. Ensure that your development team is following all frameworks and guidelines for a successful launch of your app. 

Conclusion 

If you are hitting roadblocks with your existing development team it is essential to change to better developers. Evaluate your options and choose a development company that can deliver results that match your company’s vision. We hope you find the right developers who bring your project back on track!