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DevTeam.Space

Moving our Medium Activity to Our Blog was originally published in Signal on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Hi there!

Happy Thanksgiving, and thanks for following our blog and recommending our articles! Let’s celebrate this Thanksgiving together and thanks all the people around us who help others and make the World a better place!

Best,
DevTeam.Space — AI-Enhanced Community of Top-Level Dev Teams

Happy Thanksgiving! was originally published in Signal on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Billion Dollar Startup Club has a small but growing membership. It’s an exclusive group with very lucrative ideas accomplished through building outstanding applications and products. The newest members are Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia, brothers who created and parlayed the creation and sale of Directi and Media.net.

Every startup wants to join Uber, Snapchat, What’s App, Spotify, and the club’s select membership. You may already be able to envision the payoff for your startup business plan. But, you still face at least five challenges to your Billion Dollar Startup Club membership, problems that only can be solved with a help of a solid engineering team.

Not so fast

A look at the Wall Street Journal’s Billion Dollar Startup Club reveals a lot of information. For example, it took Uber 7 years to turn its $11.46 billion funding into its current valuation of $68 billion. AirBnB took 8 years to roll its $2.95 billion into $25.5 billion. And, Slack has quickly turned a half billion into $3.8 billion.

And very few people know that some of these unicorns were building their early apps with a help of agencies. For example, Slack has done that — proof.

For starters, you need to assess the way you want to grow. Your app itself could be your business, or your app could serve operational or administrative processes.

There are many startups that are perfectly happy holding membership in the half-billion club, and the Uber target is awfully high.

Many individual members have settled for a strategy to develop, sell, and begin something new. They turn sweat equity into a seller’s market and then turn the sale equity into another startup triumph.

The Wall Street Journal’s Billion Dollar Startup Club does let you explore histories, profiles, and funding track records. This alone should give you some sense of perspective when you are thinking big — as indeed you should.

Making innovation transformational

Some business owners succeed because they improve service at their dry cleaning establishment or reduce inventory at their retail store. Entrepreneurs contribute something more. They contribute something transformational. They introduce something that alters their market, changes market expectations, and/or redirects the entire community experience.

You may want to change the world with your ideas in virtual reality, speech recognition, augmented reality, or the Internet. But, developing the app that gets you there means facing some real challenges because the transformational is rarely do-it-yourself.

1. Time is not your friend

If you’re thinking world-class competition, you know success is a fast-track business. The marketplace needs apps now that it has become used to their potential, and the market’s attention span seems insatiable.

Tim Merel of Digi-Capital, speaking of the billionaire rainmakers as “first movers,” says, “First movers have delivered unprecedented value at an unheard of rate, so dominating quickly is worth its weight in gold.”

It’s a common recommendation to enter the market early with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), a simple version of the ultimate plan. The idea is to whet the market’s appetite and work out the kinks before notching up the performance or features. But, contributors at Prado point out three problems to that strategy:

1. Smart customers can see through things, want the solution to your problem, and will wait for the better version.

2. Customers are not patient when competition is everywhere and unrelenting.

3. Everybody is an expert, blogging their appreciation or demeaning the result. These are opinions that can crush you.

So if you are to move quickly, it makes sense to look for agencies’ / professional remote developers’ help to build an MVP. Slack and many other companies applied this tactics successfully.

2. Backend

If you building a mobile app, it has to be Android-friendly, as well as iOS fitted. In the current environment, you also need a cloud-based backend.

As technology pulls innovation in every direction, you risk catastrophe if you trust everything to a single developer. You need a team of distinct, but related individual skills. You need a responsive, collaborative team that has already proven its ability.

3. Build it pretty

Potential customer engagement begins with the app’s interface and experience. It needs vivid visuals: Illustration, logo, typography, and so on. It has to present a first impression that prompts the shopper to look further, to purchase, or to download.

The first impression must provide intuitive access, and that depends on your team creating a user-friendly interface.

4. Start small; think big

If you want the business to grow, you have to build scalability into your operations and into the technology. Growth on the business operations side means planning for increases in human capital, talent management, equity funding, and the like.

The potential of product aging and shifting market tastes requires you to engineer applications that have room for maturity, adaptation, and change. Again, this sophistication calls for an experienced dev team with relevant experience building successful projects before.

5. It takes some money

Entrepreneurial passion and energy can make you a little crazy. Caught up in the romance of working out of your garage, you may lose perspective on the very real cost of getting your app on the market.

Preoccupied with funding business operations, you lose perspective on the necessary cost of developing the app effectively. But, it’s a mistake to let price drive your decision on the selection of a remote app development team.

You can find the cheapest developers and they will deliver nothing. In opposite, you hire a most expensive dev team and there is no guaranty they will meet your expectations. The right way is to hire the developers with the most relevant experience. Those are professionals who have helped many companies and entrepreneurs before you. That’s whom you should hire. Once you get your app out of the gates and (hopefully) start growing the business, you can start hiring inhouse developers which takes time and effort.

What can you do?

In the face of challenges to your joining the Billion Dollar Startup Club, you can still realize your dream objectives. In How to Build a Billion Dollar App, George Berkowski offers 10 steps to build your app:

1. Identify a people or systems problem that applied technology can solve.

2. Find a team that understands how to design, build, and deliver the app you envision.

3. Target your business model as SaaS, iOS, or other.

4. Brand the app with some clever name that indicates its key function.

5. Build a prototype based on your storyboards and narrative.

6. Test the app to exhaustion with every possible user behavior.

7. Host a soft-launch to seek local use and immediate feedback.

8. Spread brand identity across channels and platforms.

9. Raise money.

10. Grow as market demands.

But, you are not going to do this alone and, even with competent techs on board, you all have too much to do to get it right.

For example, raising money takes your full-time attention. And, while you should remain significantly involved in each of these steps, it is far smarter and more cost efficient to outsource the duties you can. While ideas like yours will see the light of day thanks to your bootstrap ambition, developing your best product demands collaboration, feedback, and unique expertise.

In a search for hot unicorns, Forbes contributor Karsten Strauss writes, “What we learned was that technology is transforming industries the world over and investors are backing young companies that promise to change the face of e-commerce, food tech, financial services, and the enterprise.”

You could add a score of industry sectors to Strauss’ list, but the markets have plenty of room for your app development. Still, a well-selected remote app development team may be your best option to beat these five key challenges in the way of your Billion Dollar Startup Club membership.

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5 Key Challenges To Your Billion Dollar Startup Club Membership was originally published in Signal on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Various elements go into launching a startup. Many people try to hire expensive in-house developers right from the start, or spend countless months searching for a tech co-founder. But this generally only works if you have experience and know exactly what to do. The majority of people burn out and give up. The better way is to launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), get your first clients, raise money, build the team, and then grow your business.

During this LiveShare session, you will learn key elements of building a startup and launching an MVP.

https://app.liveh2h.com/share/685230034

The host Alexey Semeney is the CEO and Founder of DevTeamSpace — an AI-enhanced software development service. He has helped many companies and has built several successful products himself. From his discussion, you will learn everything from defining your MVP to how manage your developers.

Sign Up for a Live Webinar — Building Your Startup MVP, How to Do It Right with a Help of Remote… was originally published in Signal on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Outsourcing your software development offers you significant benefits, but there are risks as well. When you don’t plan for risks, you invite damage and failure. Here is how to make it right.

Before you start any remote process, you must protect yourself against loss. Risk management starts with a Non-Disclosure Agreement to avoid the loss of proprietary information to a third-party company. Because there is always a possibility of meeting a team that will want to take advantage of your ideas, you should understand the benefits and demerits of outsourcing your software development as you hire vendors for your project.

So, before moving on to the must-have rules of outsourcing your software development, it is worth mentioning some basic tips that will make the selection process easier for you. They can help find the right service provide, getting maximal benefits from your efforts.

Choosing your remote partner

· Clearly define your business objectives and goals. Specify what you want, what you expect from the provider, and what you want to achieve. Although simple, this critical activity will help ensure that you are on the right path.

• Check up on the experience of your partner. This involves learning more about the technologies available, dev platforms, and other key competencies the candidate has.

• Look at work samples by having the devs present works that are most related to your own project or just the best ones they can showcase.

• Check devs’ communication practices. For example, by schedule an interview to ensure that communication will be effortless and easy no matter what.

• Consider the developers’ overall management values and work attitudes.

• Learn as much as possible about their dev process. This includes asking for information in regards to how they have set up their development process and how you can check up on progress.

• Determine is the dev team ready and willing to sign NDA or IP agreement.

• Confirm the responsibilities of each party in the project in terms of bug fixing, ongoing support and others. What will be free (usually bugs fixing is free) and what will you pay for.

This is just a ballpark recommendations list, so you can add any particular requirements important to you and your business. Even though technology does make it easy to find remote devs, the process can still be difficult. It doesn’t matter whether you are comfortable working with an individual or a remote team, but you should be sure that you are working with the right people.

In other words, you cannot rush your decision making process because this can greatly influence how your project rolls out. Your software outsource development experience will run as smoothly as possible only after your carefully consider the external and internal factors as well as the specifics of your project.

The 5 Must-Have Rules to Follow

Regrettably, the many misconceptions surrounding software development outsourcing have seen many businesses and entrepreneurs waste time and money they can’t afford. What you want is a software dev team that is focused on helping your business reach its full potential by building intuitive mobile apps and strong web platforms.

Here are the critical rules that you should follow, in no particular order:

1. Fixed Price model — be aware.

Based on the specifications you provided in the beginning of the project, the fixed price model sets a fixed budget. You pay exactly what is in the contract, no matter how much time the developers take.

As you run your business, you have to watch the fast-paced software market for trends and be flexible if you want to succeed. Expect your specs to change, and they will. If you find yourself in a locked contract that offers a defined scope of work, project specs, and terms, any changes you request will have you back sitting at the price negotiation phase. This can stall progress, and if this happens frequently, it is likely to harm the relationship. A fixed price model is not suitable for startups because change happens constantly. Startups adjust direction regularly, adopting new technologies and improving rapidly, so should their end products.

In addition, the fixed price model is more expensive than other models. A service provider will always look for a means of accounting for possible risks in their fixed price estimate. Since they are not familiar with your technology and niche, they will apply premiums to the known and unknown so as not to lose on the fixed price estimate. It is good to be confident about the future, but there are ways to keep calm.

A good idea is to request a “test drive” for two weeks before you commit fully. Thus you spend a little and validate the dev team.

2. Be Involved

For your product to succeed, it is critical that you get involved with your in-house or offshore dev team. Carry out due diligence and interview every developer you want to recruit yourself or have someone in your firm do it for you. It is important that your service provider understands your business. Proper engagement from both sides, in combination with regular communication, will get you better results. Building solutions together is what makes them masterpieces.

3. Watch out for signs of bad communication

Good communication is key to the success of your project. Ensure that the provider’s project manager knows their developers well and that your in-house product owner or manager has a clear vision of what your product should achieve. These are key people in the project, so they should have open communication channels that they use frequently and properly.

Communication also includes detailed and transparent reporting. Your project manager should not forget to make daily or weekly reports, or give early notification in case of missed deadlines. When you think there are no problems, it simply means that you are not aware of them. You don’t want to lose contact or leave the development unattended.

If the project manager is frequently unavailable or not returning your calls, this is a sign you should notice. It may be time to change service providers. If you are getting bad signals, you cannot rely on time to make communication better — it often never does.

4. Protect your information assets

When outsourcing to remote dev team, one of the biggest concerns for entrepreneurs is protecting your intellectual property. Follow these three simple rules on protecting your idea, and you can rest easy:

• Make sure the Non-Disclosure Agreement is part of the contract you sign with the service provider.

• Learn more about what the service provider has put in place to protect your source code and rights. This can include ensuring that all code is in a secure and safe globally accessible repository like GitLab/GitHub, and that devs use Jira, Asana or Trello for daily work on your project.

• Sign an Intellectual Property Rights agreement that the source code remains your sole property. You can find this agreement as part of the main contract you sign with the service provider.

• Conduct a due diligence audit on the provider to discover and confirm their best practices.

5. Keep core expertise in-house

Keeping core expertise in-house is important for many businesses, especially startups. It is also true that many routine development duties that require a lot of effort have nothing to do with core expertise. As you offload some of these tasks to a third-party, you are simply saving your best in-house talent for creating more value for your efforts.

However, as you develop the core parts of your product or add innovative features, a better approach would be to keep this development phase in-house. As an alternative, some businesses, struggling with the recruitment of high caliber developers locally, choose to relocate the service provider’s star developer to their offices. However, this requires setting up an appropriate agreement, some legal input, and relocation expenses. In a majority of cases, this can be a cheaper and much faster approach compared to putting together an entire team of the same quality locally.

Conclusion

These five must-follow rules allow business owners and entrepreneurs to develop amicable and productive relationships based on trust-building and mutual respect with an outsourcing software development company. The better you manage such relationships, the more likely you will be positioned to release better, more creative products more efficiently and quickly than before.

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5 Must-Follow Rules When Hiring a Mobile Remote Dev Team was originally published in Signal on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Major players use mobile apps to increase retention and revenue. And so should you. Read below if you want to grow.

There are over 75 billion app downloads occurring every year. If your start-up doesn’t already have one, it might needs one. The reality of business in today’s exceedingly competitive and global environment is that if you aren’t doing what your competitors are better than they do it, you’re far behind in the eyes of a consumer. That’s why you can’t avoid app development. But what do you do if budgets are thin and demands are high?

It’s time to outsource your app development to a professional dev team and take advantage of the global community you’re trying to catch up to! Here’s a no-fail plan on how, why and what to look for when it comes to outsourcing something as vital as your business’s app.

Why Your Company Almost Certainly Needs an App

We get it: You might still be wondering whether your service actually needs a mobile app. Your web app/website may already be responsive and people can use it on mobile devices. However, apps serve a different purpose.

Your app is an effective and quick interface for your clients and can be used for numerous other purposes not included in your website. And of them is push notifications — it can help to increase sales and user retention drastically!

According to a Nielsen study, smartphone users spent 89 percent of their mobile time on mobile apps, with women spending more than an hour and a half more than men on apps. That’s an awful lot of time spent looking for your message and not receiving it if you don’t have an app, or, worse yet, your app is poorly functioning. Nevertheless, this massive amount of app time offers you an opportunity you can take advantage of and your business can become a media source on its own, offering something that is equally valuable, but different than your website.

As a founder and start-up entrepreneur, the idea of having an app may not be that important to you. However, you should note that mobile penetration has risen everywhere, and it’s already old news. Your current clients and potential ones are already using mobile almost all the time and they expect to access all types of services and games on their computers via their mobile devices. It is critical that any business should look forward to integrating mobile usage to increase Key Performance Indicators (KPI) — a must-have in today’s start-up environment.

Increasingly, mobile app development is becoming an integral part of many companies’ digital business strategies. A mobile app offers your brand increased sales, a greater and integrated online presence and takes your brand to the next level. Apps also offer you a direct marketing channel where you can easily interact with your clients, and they can in turn use services that simplify their daily routine. It is no wonder that the demand is creating its own supply and it is easy to predict that mobile app development is already the most popular industry.

According to Statista report, mobile app revenues will drastically increase from 2015 to 2020. The figures are from spending on apps through app stores. According to the forecast, app consumers will pay out more than $50.9 billion by end of 2016 and the amount expected to increase in double figures by 2020!

As part of your promotions and marketing efforts, you may have stumbled upon a great idea that can help market your services and products. Creating an app that will help strengthen your brand and keep you at the top of your clients’ minds is the smartest way to harness this. Like any other rent or buy business decision, you’ve got a lot to consider before executing on the creation and that’s exactly why you should consider letting a third-party dev team build an app for you.

In-House Versus Outsourcing App Development

In-house mobile app development is a complex process that involves a lot of cash and time prior to the product launch. You need to work on hiring developers, providing them with workplaces and equipment, defining the scope of their duties, and many other tasks that you wouldn’t even possibly foresee no matter how well planned you are. However, if you feel you don’t have the infrastructure in your start-up (even large companies often don’t), or you just want to save money and spend less time, outsourcing is the way to go. There are three types of involvement when it comes to dealing with third-party devs:

· Onshore means you hire developers in your home country

· Nearshore involves hiring developers in a near country, but on the same continent/time zone

· Offshore means you hire devs from a country with a substantial time zone difference

Nearshore and onshore developers are most expensive options.
From another side — there are no restrictions for firms looking to hire offshore developers since modern technology and services make such cooperation more convenient than was ever possible. So you have a great chance to find outstanding offshore devteam and get things done with a reasonable budget!

Benefits of Outsourcing Mobile App Development

The truth about outsourcing your app development to a third-party dev team is that it is just a more economical and viable option than creating your own in-house team. Want more proof?

1. Experience of the service provider: Outsourcing app development to professional dev team means you get to benefit from their expertise and knowledge. Hiring a third-party app developer means you are hiring expertise that crosses the border to even those not related to programming. You will also benefit from tips on how your apps can be properly designed, or even how to market them. Such service providers already have the necessary tools and technologies across multiple platforms to create your app.

2. Innovative solutions: professional app dev teams are experts in mobile app development and have 100x of finished projects under their belt. They can offer you innovative solutions that work best for your application. They are usually ahead of the curve on industry trends and stay abreast with the latest in technologies. Only such innovators can give your business that extra edge over your competition to be successful in modern market conditions.

3. Focus on your core business: The more your company does, the more efforts you as a founder dissipate. A trusted external dev team allows you to focus on core business objectives. This is also part of the key benefits of outsourcing your app development. You have more time for your main activities, as well as any other interests while the appointed team implements your ideas. Who said you can’t have a work-life balance and change the world?

4. Save time: Time efficiency is a critical part in any successful project. Many start-ups choose outsourcing to have their products developed faster and cost-effectively. The less time you are spending on development, the faster you can launch your app to the market. For modern companies, the lean methodology holds true in this case as you aim for your business to be more efficient and eliminate waste at every possible angle.

5. Save money: This is the single most critical advantage of outsourcing. Many founding business owners and entrepreneurs are actively seeking mobile app devs who provide affordable services that local talent simply can’t offer. But it’s not just about saving money. If you’ve selected a right partner, you’ll get to save money and still work with world class developers.

How to Mitigate the Risks of Outsourcing App Development

Choosing a third-party company to develop your mobile app is not the same as choosing a partner for a week or two. It is more about choosing a software vendor that will become an extended form of your team for a long period. Like any other business relationship, there is always some risk that you should be aware of and be prepared for when outsourcing your app development. Here are some potential pitfalls that await entrepreneurs and businesses when they choose to outsource app development so you don’t make them.

· Set clear and realistic goals for your app: It is easier to achieve what you want when you have goals. Establishing what you want your app to do and what your clients will get from it are the minimum to help you get started with your outsourcing provider. With a goal in place, your app development becomes that much easier.

· Two-way communication: If devs aren’t reporting back regularly and they don’t discuss potential issues or threats, it just means they are having a hard time saying no or simply aren’t plugged into your project or vision. Make sure that your remote dev team takes the appropriate time to discuss potential problems. One way to do this is by having them communicate with you through collaboration tools like Bitbucket, Basecamp, Trello, Github, Pivotal Tracker, Confluence or Jira.

· A well thought out contract: Contracts outline the specifics in terms of creative, payment, expectations, roles, cooperation strategy and other rights. Have a lawyer review this critical document before you sign it. The contract should provide you with safe options to terminate the agreement in case your service provider does not meet quality expectations. Remember to set a date for the renewal of the contract so you can consider whether to continue or not. A professionally done contract is your best guarantee that your ideas are protected against plagiarism.

Ultimately, you need to choose a team based on quality, not price. Be in constant communication and do thorough interviews and research as the first step. When you find a potential app developer, start by having them create a quality prototype or ask to complete a simple 1–2 weeks task. It’s the best way to ensure that they do follow industry best practices and they have competent devs with proven work processes.

Conclusion

You might think that having an app for your start-up is just one more thing to worry about, but the benefits you stand to gain are huge. Once you start its development, experiment it and get it out into the market, you will be pleasantly surprised by how your clients respond. But before you get to see it impact on your business, you need to make the right choices when it comes to developing that app. Outsourcing your app development is the best way to save on costs and stress, all while ensuring your vision is met. Just be sure to follow the advice in this article on how to pick a developer and what to look for and you’ll be well on your way to having a great app for a fraction of the price and anxiety in no time!

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Why Your Company Almost Certainly Needs a Mobile App was originally published in Signal on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

At DevTeam.Space, we care deeply about software development quality and opportunities for new talented developers to rise. So we are really sorry to learn that one of the largest online education course sites, Coursera, is shutting down their old platform. They will close access to some of their software development courses and hundreds of others.

Use this guide to get them while you still can. This guide is prepared with a help of our friends at Class Central.

Coursera has been working on a new platform since 2014. It has been built in order to accommodate their ‘On Demand’ courses. While the old platform housed these courses, it did so without any fixed schedule and timing was largely based on the professors’ discretion. This resulted in a lot of courses being discovered too late for enrollment. To fix that, our friends at Class Central have built the MOOC Tracker. The tracker served as the main source of information by allowing those who were tracking a course in Class Central to receive a notification for new course sessions.

On June 30, 2016, Coursera will be shutting down the old platform and some course materials may no longer be available on the new one. Some ‘On Demand’ courses have already moved to their new home and it’s expected that more will be moved over as the date nears. However, there will be courses that will no longer be available on the new platform.

The following highly-rated courses will no longer be available on the new platform:

• Social Psychology from Wesleyan
• Stanford’s Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 1 and Part 2.
• Jeffrey Ullman’s Automata and Minning Massive Dataset.
• Keith Delvin’s Introduction to Mathematical Thinking (Stanford)
• Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies from Princeton University.
• Princeton’s Algorithms, Part I and Part II by Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne.

There are currently more than 1500 courses on Coursera and over 450 of them are still using the old platform. Any of these 450 courses (see the list here) may soon be unavailable for you. If the course is still open for enrolment, the enrolment button on the right means that it is still using the old platform, while an enrolment button on the left indicates that the course can be found in the new platform. There are only 220 courses out of the 450 that are still available for enrolment. You can check your courses on this list here.

How to Download Course Materials from the Old Platform

Step #1: Find Your Course(s)
Before proceeding, determine the courses that you are after and find them on Coursera. Proceed to the chosen course’s page that should be similar to this, https://class.coursera.org/pgm-003/lecture. The following will help you find the course(s) that are available for download. Note that you may still add the courses from the old platform to the MOCC Tracker so that we can notify you if the course moves to the new platform.

For those who are already enrolled in the course:

1. Proceed to the My Courses section.
2. Under My Course, an Archived tab should be available.
3. On the Archived tab, old platform courses should have a Course Archive link as it appears below.
4. Copy the Course Archive link.

For those who are not enrolled in the course:

1. Visit the dedicated page in Class Central to find courses that are still open for enrolment. The courses can be filtered by subject or by rating.
2. From the list, you may determine the courses that you wish to save. Once decided, you may proceed to the course page in Class Central.
3. The course page will be similar to what is shown below and the highlighted part is the link that you should copy for download.
4. Alternatively, this spreadsheet is available in Google docs with a Course Material URL that can easily be copied for download.

Step #2: Download All Course Materials
Before proceeding to this step, make sure you have the link to the course materials page (See Step 1) and sufficient space in your hard drive. The following guidelines will help you download all the course materials you need.

Using Google Chrome Plugin:

1. Install the Course Materials Downloader Google Chrome plugin. The Coursera logo should appear on the right side of your address bar, as in the image below.
2. Visit the course materials page obtained from Step 1 (course materials link). Some links require a log-in or enrolment in the course.
3. Once you are on the course materials page, click the icon shown above. A download page should appear similar to the one below.
4. Click on start download. Chrome may repeatedly ask you where to save to the download. To avoid this, we recommend that you change your default download location in Chrome.

Using Python Script (This is a bit more technical, but if you can manage it, it is the better option):

1. Install the script by following the instructions on the Github page. Please drop us a note if you are having a difficult time with installation.
2. Get the class name from the copied link in step 1. For example, if the link is https://class.coursera.org/pgm-003/lecture, pgm-003 is the class name.
3. Download the course materials by running the following command, coursera-dl -u <coursera_user> -p <coursera_pass> pgm-003
4. If you wish to download more courses, simply add more class names at the end of the command. For power users, check out the Coursera Downloader script as it gives a lot more options.

You need to hurry. Make sure to download all necessary materials before June 30th, 2016.

If you liked the post, click the 💚 below so other people will see it here on Medium.

Coursera is Removing Software Development Courses and Hundreds of Others was originally published in Signal on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The world of software outsourcing is huge but fraught with problems. In 2014 Information Week surveyed businesses about their use of outsourcing the development of software. Only 12% indicated that IT was satisfied with the outcome, and only 11% of their end users would rate the outsourced software as “excellent.”

Outsourcing is here to stay, however. But if so many companies are dissatisfied with outsourcing, how can you end up in the lucky 11%?

The major problem facing many companies considering outsourcing their software development is that they feel it is too risky. According to the same Information Week report, among the reasons that companies are often reluctant to outsource their software we find complaints such as the vendors they have to choose from seeming small and unstable, and a lack of confidence on the part of the company when it comes to negotiating contracts with vendors. Outsourcing to large vendors doesn’t always work, either. Whereas small dev teams can sometimes provide higher quality and rapid execution, large vendors often fail in this same area. Thus, outsourcing remains an unsolved puzzle for many companies: do you take a risk with small, unstable vendors, or go with large vendors that might not be able to provide the same quality and speed?

Here are some of the top problems growing startups and enterprise companies face when they hire outsourcers:

• Quality control and logistics are widely recognized as major problems in outsourcing.
• Not receiving the product is another notorious issue with outsourcing.
• Outsourcing is actually tying the financial well-being of your company to that of another.
• Many outsourcing companies have issues with managing the project.

In 99% of cases, you can avoid these very problems if you follow five simple rules for hiring and managing your outsourcing developers. Even by implementing some of them, you will significantly reduce your risk, improve the results, and get closer to being a part of that lucky 11 %. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Don’t hire individual freelancers; hire only development teams who’ve been working together for at least 3 years. This illuminates the risks and gives you the ability to scale.
   Do you think it’s cheaper to hire individual developers? — Yes. Is it safe and efficient? — No. Hiring for a regular job remotely you will end up spending your management time. Why would you spend hours per week managing a single developer who can disappear at any moment? It’s much better to work with a team of professionals who will provide you with a project manager and save you a lot of time. You will get better results and spend fewer resources after all.
2. Ask for daily written reports/updates from all the developers so you can retain control of the process.
   Sounds like micro-management, but if done right it’s not. Simply ask to send you daily updates every evening, just 2–4 lines of text via email. So you can see exactly what has been done during the day. It will help you to catch fatal errors at the very beginning and solve issues with transparency and communication.
3. Demand two project managers — one who is US based and one who is from the development team office. Thus, you can be sure the developers will work hard while reducing misunderstandings and delays.
   Not all companies provide such service, but you will save a lot of time and money by working with professionals, rather than hiring directly. Otherwise, you will get lost in translation and the relationship will be tense.
4. Demand a timeline-based estimate for your projects, which allows you to measure the ROI down the road.
   If your remote dev team just gives you a raw cost in $$ and a vague deadline — that’s a red sign. You have a chance to lose not only your money but time and clients. Instead — ask for an hourly estimate and a precise deadline. Discuss what will be if the deadline will not be met and how will you resolve potential roadblocks during the development process. While you are still relying on other companies, the detailed estimate will let you keep the budget under control and avoid any hidden costs.
5. Demand a reporting/progress tracking software so you can see all the materials and updates on one dashboard.
   This will let you control the quality and ensure you will get exactly the product you’ve planned.
   You can use Trello, Asana, or Jira for project/task tracking and some reporting tools like 15Five.

No matter what outsourcing developers you hire, be sure to follow these standards. Or at least some of them.

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There are millions of apps in the app store, but less than 1% of those ever make it to the top. No one can guarantee your app will be one of them, but after managing over 1000 app development processes, we think we found a pattern.

Below you’ll find a detailed analysis of the main characteristics of a successful app. If you’ll have any questions after reading the article, be sure to leave a comment below, or send us an email. So let’s jump right in:

The Only 3 Things That Matter

For an app to be successful, whether it’s built for internal use or for the masses, it has to have all of the following traits:

1. A great idea,
2. a great development process, and
3. effective sales/marketing initiatives

Now, before you go all “Duh, Einstein!” on us, just keep reading and you’ll see how we go deep into all those points to help you make sure you’re on the right track.

First of all, you can imagine the first two as multipliers of each other. If you grade your idea as a 7 and your dev team as a 6, then your app has a 42% success rate. (Not so reassuring if you spend 6 figures on development and promotion, right?)

On the other hand, small improvements on either side increase your chances significantly. For example, if you follow the advice below to come up with a great idea (9) and find a great team (9), then your app has almost twice the chance to succeed (81%).

A very successful and still booming example of this is the private driver on-demand service, Uber. Founders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp came up with a great idea of using software to improve the taxi system and invested $200,000 into building the pilot app.

Of course, your app does not need to be as disruptive as Uber, which now has hundreds of millions of users worldwide. The success of app development projects is measured in ROI. If your app reels in the results you want, that’s perfect.

Part One: The Idea

A natural question to ask now is: How do I know if MY idea is good enough?

Well, in most cases, you should try answering the following two questions in detail:

1. Does it solve a problem? Which one?
2. Does it make its users’ life easier/better? How?

Both of those have to get affirmative and compelling answers. If one of them isn’t so compelling, then you might want to rethink it or ask your target audience about what they want.

A clear example of how this works is the messaging app, Telegram. The app itself is beautiful and does exactly what it should, so the dev team did their job well. The idea itself is great also, but its fatal flaw is that it complicates people’s lives.

Why? Because everyone is already using Whatsapp. And if they’re not on Whatsapp, then they’re on Snapchat, Facebook, WeChat, or any other messenger. It’s simply too much of a hassle to convince all of your friends to start using a new app, just because you think it looks better.

Of course, there are also grades and levels to everything. For example, there are many people that enjoy the features of 30/30, an iOS app that allows you to create and follow on-demand routines. The idea works superbly well in many situations, but the app’s interface is way outdated.

If a team would come along and take that idea, but use today’s UI/UX standards, the app has a BIG chance of becoming the next Editor’s Choice on the app store (and in many other lists, such as Product Hunt).

One Exception: Games

95% of all the app ideas you can think of adhering to the above rule. Games, on the other hand, are a bit different. They don’t need to solve a problem, nor make life easier. The only question you should ask before making a game is:

Is it addictive enough?

We’ve seen it happen time and time again — large brands with huge budgets getting taken over by a small team of developers that created a super addictive game.

If people pull out their phones every once in a while just to play your game, then you know you have a winner.

Needless to say, if you start gaining a small fortune from your app, you should re-invest most of the money back into improving the game. Otherwise, the big guys will just develop something similar and, before you know it, you’re out.

How To Come Up With An Idea?

If you already have an idea that got compelling answers to the previous questions, you can skip this section and go to the next one. If not, keep reading.

Tactic One:

As hard-working professionals, we deal with a variety of obstacles on a regular basis. We should always remember that our problems are never singular. More so, there are probably thousands, if not millions of others that deal with issues similar to yours.

So the main question to ask here is: What annoys you?

How often does it annoy you? Can you find a solution on the market?

Let me give you two examples here of how to go about it:

1. I used to get annoyed because I never knew when was the best time to buy plane tickets. I travel a lot — so $160 here and $230 there add up fast.

I decided to ask one of my best friends, Google, “when’s the best time to buy airline tickets”?

The very first organic result I got was from CheapAir.com — an agency that tracked 1.5 billion fares during an entire year. They determined that the best time to buy a ticket was 47 days before the flight.

This was a good start because now I knew that the best prices are about 1.5 months before. But I would have still preferred specific data for my flights, automatic reminders, and a few other features.

Sure enough, lower on the same page was Hopper, a mobile app that does exactly what I want, completely free of charge.

Though I wasn’t successful in finding an app idea, at least I found a great app that saves me $$$ every time I travel.

*pats self on back*

1. I’m an office worker and find myself sitting most of the day. I looked into better chairs and standing desks, which are perfect for the office, but I still wanted to balance out so much sitting with some movement.

Same as before, I did some research and came across Pete Egoscue’s book “Pain Free: A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain,” which also helps you strengthen your entire body and prevent pain.

Among many other useful things, the book talks about a few exercise routines you can do in just 15–20 minutes.

The problem? All the exercises have to be done for specific time periods, and there isn’t any “Egoscue Exercise Timer” app to be found.

This is a great opportunity for anyone that wants to make an app because you’re looking at a market of millions of Egoscue practitioners from all around the world. None of them have an app that is specifically developed for that purpose.

Tactic Two:

OK, now you know how to find great ideas for things that annoy you. What happens if you find an app each time? You move on to the next question:

What are you passionate about?

Spotify came out for music lovers all over the world. Netflix came out of nowhere for everyone that loves spending countless hours watching TV series. Omvana for meditating, Duolingo for language learning, and the list goes on.

Our team, for example, is very passionate about effectively building great software remotely, with less amount of risk and the best quality/price ratio. We didn’t find any platform that had all of the features we knew were essential for the optimal flow of a development project, so we decided to build one.

That’s how DevTem.Space was born.

Think of anything you’re really passionate about and start from there.

Tactic Three:

If none of the above tactics worked, then it’s time to ask for help. Start browsing the web for communities of your interest and ask them the questions you asked yourself.

You can ask your friends on Facebook: “What’s something that annoys you often?”

Or ask similar questions on sites like Reddit or Quora.

How To Validate An Idea?

Whether you used the above methods to come up with an idea, or you had one before you started reading this article, we recommend you make sure it’s validated. To help you out, we’ll share case studies of how 2 great app ideas were validated:

1. Rob Walling, a creator of Drip, an email-marketing tool, used one of the simplest methods to validate his idea: he emailed people.

“I wanted to find 10 people who would be willing to pay a specific amount for the product once it was complete. This forced me to not think about features, but to distill the idea down into its core value[: a] single reason someone would be willing to pay me for the product. I took that, and emailed 17 people I know, or had at least heard of, who may have shared the same pain. This way, I not only had my initial customers who could provide me feedback on the details of how Drip should work, I had the start of an early base of revenue I could use to start growing the product.”

1. Danny Maloney, creator of Tailwind, a Pinterest analytics tool, can tell us what you should never consider validation, and also what you could do:

“We ‘validated’ our first (failed) product by having friends and family tell us how wonderful it was. [It] felt great, but they didn’t use it. When we started Tailwind, we took a different approach — asking complete strangers who didn’t care about us at all to [sign up] and pay before our product was even built. We stood up a signup page, bought some AdWords traffic and people actually started offering to pay us! We didn’t actually charge them, but we learned we were onto something.”

As you can see, the process of validation not only helps you decide whether or not you have a great idea but also provides you with critical feedback and an initial customer pool that will invest in your app once it’s done.

After you found and validated your idea, it’s time to go into…

Part 2: The Development Process

Here it’s less about you and more about the process itself. There are hundreds of best case practices within the software development industry, but it’s not your job to know them.

1. Pick the right TEAM

The people you decide to work with should know exactly what they need to do. Our internet provider does not ask us what’s the best way to install a router, nor should your dev team ask you how to build an app.

You should always have direct contact with the team that’s building your app, and a project manager that’s overseeing everything and can step in whenever needed.

Avoid hiring a freelancer, especially if what you’re building is of significant importance to you, or takes several months to finish. A single person can rarely match the output, timelines, and consistency of an experienced team.

Also, note that choosing a team based on your specific needs is critical for the success of this phase. We can help you with that later, but for now, we’ll share with you a few important considerations — no matter who you work with.

1. Have crystal-clear specifications

Software developers can build almost anything (if the budget is there), and also provide useful insights and feedback at the right moments. But at the end of the day, it’s your responsibility to know what you want.

We recommend you have a place online (such as a shared document) where you have all of the project specs and requirements. This doc should be regularly revised and updated after each conversation you have with your dev team.

Avoid “just talking about it.” Have everything written down. Presume nothing, explain everything. But don’t worry, you do not need to have all the details at the first meeting. Instead, make sure you insist on the next point.

1. Regular communication

Before the first lines of code are written, be sure to agree with your team on a strict system of communications. This will allow you to keep track of their progress, and also ask questions or make comments whenever you remember something.

We highly recommend asking your team to provide daily reports. A week is just too much time to wait and hope everything’s going according to plan. Small, daily reports, on the other hand, keep the team accountable (and keep you informed).

1. Quality assurance

Make sure the team you choose has systems and processes in place for testing everything they build. From a developer’s standpoint, this usually comes with experience. The more similar projects they worked on, the more they know what to look for.

You should also thoroughly test everything they send you and provide constructive feedback when you notice something. Again, don’t assume anything. It’s better to ask and be sure than to hope.

1. Ongoing updates

Lastly, we gave you a hint of this before, but it’s very important so we’ll mention it again. Great software is never really “done.” There’s always something to add or improve.

Focus on getting an initial version with core features into the hand of some people from within your target market as fast as you can. Ask them to describe their experience and use their feedback to improve your app.

OK. Now that you had a great idea and built an equally great app around it, it’s time for the last step.

Part 3: Sales & Marketing

After building a great app, you should take full responsibility for promoting it as best as you can (or for hiring some experts to do it for you). Though we don’t offer app promotion, we’ve seen some great initiatives from the people we worked with. Such initiatives helped their app rank in the top charts for both the iOS and Android stores.

These are a few of the strategies they used:

1. Build a microsite. Use specific keywords and phrases so people searching on Google can find you. You can also have a blog section for the extra SEO juice. (Hint: This only works if you’re constantly publishing new articles)

2. Create a short demo video. This is a simple, powerful, yet highly unused strategy. You should put the video everywhere you can and share it whenever you get the chance.

For the video itself to be great, make sure it’s short and tells a story, much like Wunderlist or Dropbox. This helps the viewer see how their lives would be better if they would use your app.

3. Share on social media. Tag friends and ask them to share and download it if they like it. Do this at least once every 2 weeks — each time tag different people.

It also helps to do research, learn about, and join communities on various social media platforms. Just remember that advertising your app will probably get you kicked out. It’s much better to get conversations going on topics such as “What could I do to improve my app?”

4. Email friends & family. A study conducted by ExactTarget found that “91% of people check their email daily”. Be sure to have a list ready even before the launch. Also, if you added social sharing capabilities within your app, it’s a good idea to ask (and remind) those people to use them.

5. Offer a discounted price at launch. Or make it free of charge for X days/weeks. Just be sure to write a “FREE ONLY FOR THE FIRST 2 WEEKS” line at the top of the description. This will also allow you to reach out to blogs, subreddits, forums, and Facebook groups that are actively looking for and testing free/discounted apps.

6. Resolve negative feedback asap. Keep an eye on the reviews section and make fixing issues or adding improvements your #1 priority. After you do, make a habit of reaching out to the people that gave you feedback to thank and give them the good news.

7. (Extra) If you’ve invested a 6–7 figure sum into your app, then it might be worth reaching out to review sites (like AppAdvice.com or AppStoreApps.com) and to journalists from within your niche. One of the best online marketers in the world, Neil Patel, states that “Press is the best way to kick start your startup, and the best way to get it is to manually reach out to journalists.”

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For most businesses, having an in-house development team is simply not an option. You already have dozens of responsibilities on your plate. Having an extra five to ten developers in your company means more salaries, more time lost in management, and more stress.

This is exactly why businesses of all sizes and in all industries decide to outsource their app’s design and development to ready-made teams with experience. This process of delegation lowers costs, shortens the time from concept to launch, and allows you to continue focusing on core business activities.

Both remote software development teams and the mass of businesses that employ them have exponentially increased in number. The vast majority of software today is developed via outsourcing, and we believe the ratio will continue to grow in their favor.

Of course, this movement brings with it many challenges. The two main ones are:

1. Remaining on top of the development process
2. Maintaining a high standard of quality

Today we would like to offer you an overview of what you can do, as an app owner, to assure that your app’s development process is as smooth as can be.

Eliminate as Much Doubt as Possible

From the very beginning, be very clear and very blunt. The rule here is to avoid presumptions. Don’t presume the devs know what you want or how you want it. Here are a few points of advice to help you eliminate doubt:

• Don’t talk about it. Write it down. Conversations are great because they allow you to bounce ideas much faster than whilst writing. Just make sure that all conversations result in a written outline of everything that was discussed.
• Emails get lost. Have a specific place where everyone can find all of the info they need. For this, we recommend shared documents.
• Use as many forms of description as possible — feature lists, drawings, helpful examples, videos. Don’t explain a feature if you saw it somewhere and you can show it. The developers will appreciate having the vision of a final product, and you will increase your chances of getting exactly what you want.
• Remember that everyone has their own point of view. Your idea of “bigger” or “darker” might mean something very different for the designer. Be specific. How much bigger? How much more to the left? Do you mean vertical or horizontal center? Again, don’t leave anything to chance.

Ways to Keep in Touch

Professionals are not robots. They’re regular people, just like you and me. As a result — It is best to avoid having long, back-and-forth emails conversations — no one likes them. Use email only to discuss less important or less time-sensitive issues. Instead, use other, more effective means of communication.

You can use sharable documents, to-do lists, instant messaging, chat rooms, video conferences, phone calls, and a variety of other tools.

Let me give you a few examples of what each of these mediums can be used for:

• Shareable documents — For everything important
• Google Docs, amongst other such apps, is a great tool that helps you keep all project related information in one place and always up to date. Everyone has access to these files and all changes are being tracked by the app.
• To-do lists — To oversee workflow
• Do not ignore the usefulness of list apps such as Wunderlist. They make collaboration and workflow management incredibly transparent and straight-forward. You can create task groups, assign tasks to specific people, set priorities, deadlines and reminders, and centralize all task-related discussions.
• Messages and chat rooms — For unimportant conversations
• There are many great mediums to keep in touch with your team. You can use apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Slack. Again, use these for less important conversations, or make sure that all conclusions are added to the shared docs.
• Video conferences — For large projects
• Apps such as Skype or Google Hangouts allow the dev team to give you a live tour of your product, explain the progress they’ve made, and respond instantly to any questions you might have.
• Phone calls — Only if necessary
• In most cases, there is no reason to use phone calls. Such conversations might get lost or misunderstood. If you feel that you must use phone calls, then make sure the contents of the discussion are noted in a relevant shared doc.

Important note: Effective communication is always two-ways. You cannot expect your team to know what you’re thinking, so be proactive about offering constructive feedback and asking questions as often as you can.

Have a Separate Account/Project Manager (PM)

It is critical to have someone in charge of managing the development process and keeping all stakeholders in the loop. Many times, both these roles can be handled by one person. Someone which has a technical background and is also skilled in effective communication.

The PM has to understand technical terms and be able to translate them into plain English. And this goes both ways. All of your requirements and feedback have to be broken apart into small modules and tasks for the devs to work on.

A PM knows and uses all of the points outlined within this article. An effective PM is invisible during most of the development process.

You talk and give feedback directly to the devs, which are the ones responsible for providing you with daily reports. Project managers hop in only to when needed, to clarify or solve certain situations.

Use Version Control Systems

Make sure the dev team uses systems such as Github or Bitbucket and request an invitation to the project’s branch. This will allow you to see all of the changes that are being made to your app’s source code.

This point is extremely useful for tech-savvy co-founders who understand everything that’s going on. On the other hand, if you are not familiar with the code, the PM has your back.

In either case, we recommend that you insist on the use of versioning systems, even if there will be just one person working on the code for your app.

Regular Pulse Checks

Most software development projects take several months to complete. Don’t expect everything to go as planned and don’t wait until the last month to check on progress.

Together with your project manager, decide on a system of communication. We recommend daily written reports and weekly calls.

Remember: It’s not that you don’t trust your team. You just don’t want to take any chances. At the end of the day, this is better for both sides.

Trust Your Gut Feeling

If you have doubts or simply don’t understand certain aspects of the development process: ask. No one expects you to understand everything. You’re hiring a team of experts for a reason. If you pay them well, it is their duty to both deliver a finished product and keep you informed throughout the entire process.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is ignoring the small, silent voices that pop up in your mind. State your observations as soon as they arise. This will help you avoid any unpleasant surprises down the road.

Avoid Micro-Management

Set up a clear system of communication and then trust the process. If you’ve picked your dev team well enough, then they know what they’re doing. There is no need for you, or anyone else, to disturb them.

As discussed in previous points, there are tens of tools and systems that help you keep track, on a daily basis, of everything that’s being done on your project. Avoid interrupting your team for the sake of conversation. Let them do the work and engage with them only at scheduled meetings.

Taking into consideration all of the above points will almost guarantee your app will be ready on time, within the specified budget, and with the least bit of obstacles.

If you’re thinking of having something built or improved, tell us about it. We have over 700 experienced developers working in teams, ready and waiting for a challenge.

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