Over the years, SmartLogic has helped turn dozens of ideas into products. Along the way, we’ve busted through roadblocks, shared our clients’ frustrations and successes, and of course, learned a lot. I’ve condensed a lot of what we’ve learned into an eBook, which you can download below.
The eBook is ideal for people who:
- Are building a web and/or mobile based product
- Have money (or have access to it)
- Need a plan to ramp up development in order to churn out features
In this post, I’ll cover a few things you need to consider as you’re planning your application development process. I’ll go into more depth on each of these points—and many more—in the eBook itself.
Below, you can read a sneak peek of what you’ll find in the eBook:
Who do you need to build your product? To build any web or mobile application, you can either insource all development, outsource all development, or use a hybrid model. We highly suggest at least a hybrid model if you have limited technical and product development experience. If you’re a skilled product developer, then the model you use depends on your timeline and budget. Will your development needs stay consistent in the long-term? Insourcing may be better. Do you need a team that’s ready to go quickly? Outsourcing might be the right way to go. If you’re looking for more guidance on this decision, I break down the advantages and disadvantages of each model in the eBook.
How can you find the right developers? When you talk to development firms—and individuals—make sure you know what questions to ask, and which answers are red flags. For example, beware of fixed-price bids and non-technical project managers. These are signs of a software development firm that likely has issues with their project management process. In a constantly shifting marketplace, the vision and elements of a product can change rapidly. A fixed-price bid can lock you into a product that would have worked six months ago, and non-technical product managers add an extra layer of communication that may cause slowdowns and misunderstandings.
How can we get our team to be more productive? After working on many products, we’ve discovered ways to increase the long-term throughput of our development team. For example, having the right kind and frequency of meetings can speed up the process. Hold too many meetings, and you won’t have time to code. Hold too few meetings, and you’ll lose touch with the development process. In the eBook, I cover our method for meetings and communications, as well as several other tools and tactics we use. You don’t have to use our process, or any prescribed process. But you should have some kind of process.
What’s most likely to make an application development process go awry? Every application development project comes with risks—but there are certain factors that increase risk. For example, if your product needs to integrate with an API that’s out of your control, you may discover issues as you work. That’s not to say that working with third-party APIs is a death sentence for an application, just be aware that additional integrations may open up a slew of new risks and time costs. If you’re aware of the risks in the application development process, you can plan ahead to minimize them.
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