Ramping up customer-centric modular design projects: Mobile app development for pandemic relief

Abstract

Today’s fast-growing demands at the global level for mobile applications (apps) cause customers to call for the customization of their apps to fit their individualized needs and business realms. Customization is a challenge for apps-development companies when they want to satisfy their numerous users in a crowded competitive market. Moreover, pursuing customization involves additional challenges when ramping up app development projects in order to meet demands at a larger scale. To address this challenge, we proposed a framework to systematize and support mobile apps’ development consistently with a customer-driven approach and modular design philosophy. From a practical point of view, the proposed framework integrates quality function deployment (QFD), axiomatic design (AD) principles, and practices from the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) framework. The framework supports a systematic process for translating customer needs into design parameters as well as supporting prioritization of ITIL practices for further development. The effectiveness of the framework was explored in practice through a case study about an app supporting relief in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a survey among potential users. The assessment of the framework indicated an average score ranging between 3.58 and 3.92 in a five-point Likert scale for all of the items used in the survey.