Application development can be a laborious and overwhelming process for those who go unprepared. But, by considering just a few quick variables, you can make the development process a breeze.
It is critically important that your development teams come up with, and complete, a full mock-up before development even begins. Development teams who start with a general idea and a few aesthetic principles typically find the development process to be unbearably confusing.
Rapid prototyping allows a constant flow of work to lead to a constant flow of feedback. It can open up communication channels and sharpen the product has its proceeds with full company involvement. Using these tips, businesses will find app development to be a whole lot easier and much more successful.
These aren’t all the tips you need to survive app development, however. Here are 4 quick ways to make app development easier:
- Design before you develop
A classic rookie mistake is to jump into app development before you draft a plan and before you test your designs. Product design is extremely important, however, as the user experience is what drives users to engage with and to spend money on your app.
While you may think you have the technical aspects all figured out, it’s crucial that you test the user experience and the graphical user interface before you write a single line of code.
To design your app, do some market research and complete a competitive analysis. After that, use programs like Sketch or Adobe XD to begin wireframing (or provide these tools to a designer).
- Gather marketing metrics as you develop
There’s no reason to wait to do your market research until product launch. Do your market research at the very beginning and continue to monitor and adjust your marketing analysis as you receive new data.
The most successful apps have product managers making informing the marketing team of important marketing metrics and vice versa. The teams collaborate to make sure that the product addresses a need, is appealing to the target market, and is profitable in that market.
- Validate your model with your customers
You’ve done your research, developed your marketing plan, and prototyped your app’s design. With wireframing out of the way, you’re ready to go full speed into app development, right?
Just as you should continue gathering marketing data and making crucial marketing decisions while you develop, you should also consistently communicate with your customers to make sure you are making the best app for them.
Use surveying tools like SurveyMonkey or invite users to a private beta. Or, simply try asking the community directly through social media. People are always willing to give you their opinion.
- Embrace rapid prototyping
If you’re not familiar with agile, lean, or scrum, then it’s time to do a little bit of research and brush up on the most effective product management methodologies.
The agile methodology, as well as lean and scrum, underscore the importance of rapid prototyping. What does this mean? It means that software needs to be created iteratively (or in cycles) until the final product is made. So, in an agile environment, working software is the primary measure of progress (rather than extensive documentation).
Conclusion
If those same developers were to make a prototype of the software, inside and out, before development began then they would have found great success. Don’t jump into the development process without a draft in front of you, it may just save your company.
Another important task is to gather market research as well as all the related costs involved as you develop. This will allow your development team to stay current and trendy within the design of the product. Many companies make the mistake of keeping themselves low profile until the application is released when they should be doing the opposite.
Once the draft is settled it is time to start marketing. It can be subtle hints or direct advertising, but it needs to be out there or your product will launch without an audience that cares. To ensure that your audience does care, it is important to validate the idea with the consumer. Showcase an aspect of the design or its main feature and try to receive the feedback with a constructive mind for maximum results.
This feedback can help your development team fine-tune the product to target your audience directly. This leads to immediate results, however, some may not want to change the product. Unfortunately, many businesses make the mistake of dying on a sword that didn’t need to be there. In other words, your development teams should embrace rapid prototyping to keep the product fresh and technologically relevant.