Lean App Development 103: Breaking it Down
There are 6 steps in the lean app development process, or at least 6 steps we’ve identified so far. When we started 8 months ago there were only 3…. Oh how I miss the days of hopeful optimism… but with 6 steps we feel we’re being a little more realistic.
While we always managed to hit our goals, the pain felt by all parties along the way decreased drastically as the lean app development process grew. Here’s how it all unfolded.
Where we started
Steps in Process: 3
Overall Experience: Satisfactory. Goals achieved but lots of bumps along the way.
- Discovery
- Design
- Develop
Sounded great, clear, and concise but it led to a lot of potential for misalignment, poorly defined expectations, and less predictable results.
Then we added QA
Steps in Process: 4
Overall Experience: Great. All goals were achieved but still some bumps along the way.
- Discovery
- Design
- Develop
- QA (quality assurance)
Adding in QA was a HUGE leap forward, everyone respects and anticipates development time but QA is often an afterthought. Projects with proper QA always turn better than those without. Don’t skip QA!
Where we’ve ended up
Steps in Process: 6
Overall experience: Amazing (hopefully, as it is untested). All goals achieved with minor to no glitches.
- Project Idea (untested — send us your thoughts)
- Discovery
- Design
- Develop
- QA
- Delivery (untested — send us your thoughts)
Since our last project we’ve decided to add a phase at each end. Here they are:
- Project Idea — A well crafted questionnaire and initial meeting to formalize the initial understanding of the project by both parties. Clients ask us for increased clarity on scope, price, timeline BEFORE paying and therefore ‘defining the ballpark’ we are playing in is a huge help for their decision making. This step will allow both parties to begin the alignment process, without too much time and resources spent on our side.
- Delivery — We’ve broken down the development process even further, not only by adding a QA step but also adding a Delivery step. The Delivery step takes many forms depending on the project but usually entails handoff, training, code overview, documentation, and code migration. Essentially handing off the project from Biznas to the customer in whatever form they require, sometimes it is as simple as performing ongoing support. Other times there is an internal tech team that takes over.
In the next set of blogs we want to go into depth on each of these 6 steps, share successes, and the failures that brought us to this point. Feel free to leave comments on your process and how it has evolved as you and your customers have grown.
Make sure to Follow Us as we build out the Lean App development process!
