CASE STUDY · PROJECT RESCUE · AGENTIC DELIVERY

Finance App Rescue: 4 Apps in 12 Weeks, First MVP in 2 Weeks

A multi-billion-dollar global finance and superannuation company hit a cliff. Their Xamarin apps were end-of-life, the app stores were rejecting deployments, an acquisition was onboarding new customers onto the platform, and three months of internal refactoring toward .NET MAUI had produced no delivery date.

They needed a working solution in two weeks. Here's the three decisions that got them one.

BY THE NUMBERS

2 weeks

to first MVP in the app stores

4 apps

to first MVP in the app stores

12 weeks

to full completion

31 screens

per app, from 3 developers

493 to 640

PRs to automated tests across the project

WCAG 2.1 AA

verified with screen readers

Decision one: scope it ruthlessly

Speed didn't come from typing faster. It came from refusing to rebuild everything at once.

Instead of chasing screen-for-screen parity, we architected a hybrid MVP. The high-value flows (login, dashboard, biometrics) were built as robust native experiences. Every secondary screen linked users seamlessly to the responsive web version.

That product decision was the unlock. A clean, compliant, reviewable app was in the App Store within two weeks, new customer onboarding was unblocked immediately, and the full native build proceeded behind it without a deadline gun to its head.

Decision two: rewrite, don't refactor

The internal team was stuck in a porting trap: lifting legacy Xamarin code into .NET MAUI, and carrying years of accumulated debt with every file. We halted the refactor and started clean.

We also changed the destination. MAUI was the plan because it was familiar; React Native was the choice because of the market. The talent pool for React Native is deep and growing, which means the client can hire people to maintain and extend the apps for the next decade. Choosing a niche stack creates key-person risk. Choosing the market standard is an insurance policy on the roadmap.

Stack: TypeScript · React Native (iOS and Android) · Okta identity · biometric authentication · Jest and Playwright · Azure DevOps CI/CD

Decision three: run it agentically, inside a harness

The rewrite ran on an agentic workflow: AI generated UI components directly from the designs and drafted the repetitive tiers of the build, while three engineers directed the work and owned every merge. Nothing shipped without human review, and the numbers show what that discipline looks like at speed: 493 pull requests, each one a review gate, and 640 automated tests holding the line behind them.

That's how three developers delivered 31 screens per app across four applications. We didn't throw more people at the problem; we changed what the people were for.

FROM THE CLIENT

"The app stores were rejecting our deployments and the clock was running. Patient Zero had a compliant app submitted within two weeks. Patient Zero and their Tiger Teams are now legend within our organisation."

CIO, global finance and superannuation company

Quality moved fast because it was quality

The standing fear in rescue work is that speed costs quality. The data ran the other way. By the end of sprint one, a team of one product owner and three developers had raised 92 pull requests and written 115 automated tests; by completion, 493 and 640. Playwright regression coverage meant the team never slowed down to chase compatibility bugs, and the accessibility uplift to WCAG 2.1 AA was verified with screen readers, not assumed from a checklist.

Fast and careful weren't in tension. The care is what made the pace sustainable.

The Outcome

Four production apps across two brands, iOS and Android, serving hundreds of thousands of users, delivered in twelve weeks against a two-week first deadline. Built as a white-label modular framework, so new brands and feature sets deploy as configuration rather than projects. Biometric login and Okta identity integrated. Accessibility at WCAG 2.1 AA.

The internal team wasn't replaced; it was unblocked.
Capability transfers by delivering together →