Cooking your app to development

There’s a lot that has to be kept in mind while building an app. The best apps are built keeping the user in mind — we tell you how to build some cool apps with the aspects that matter.

Crafted by Pankaj Harita

What’s the purpose of being a good cook, if you don’t know the ingredients you are cooking with or the process you have to follow? Yes, you may have to do some experimentation but that will involve modification on minor parts of the elements or steps and not on anything major. App development is as good as cooking a dish. Make the preparations and do a double check on your check list before diving in to code the app live. Now, let’s see what those preparations are!

PRE-DEVELOPMENT PREPARATIONS

BUILDING THE NETWORK

What app do you want to build? If you have an answer to that, that is your idea and now start adding elements to it. The app starts taking form when you have decided on the core elements. These core elements should distinguish your app from a competitor having a similar app -competitor study is something essential and it has to be done. Start adding smaller elements. The elements will undergo change except for the core elements which will not be disturbed.

BE SPECIFIC AND CLEAR

Choose the platform you want to build the app on — iOS, Android or Windows? Since each marketplace has different requirements, it’s important to decide early. Also, each may involve some additional setup unique to their own platform — so keep that in mind.

MARKET MIND

Pick out design inspirations for the app. Get your logo, colors, tagline, trademark and style guide ready as soon as possible. Put together a list of words that will best describe you app. This is for App Store Optimization (ASO).

PITCH

A summary of your app that will help in understanding the app by reading it. Another important step is to identify the business goals for your app.

RESEARCH DOCUMENT

A document that will list all the target users for your app. This document should also cover the use cases for all user roles. To figure out all the user roles and to cover all the use cases, research has to be done. This will take a few days to figure out.

FUNCTIONALITY DOCUMENT

Break the app into modules. Each module should have the list of features and their respective functionalities or actions. Assumptions don’t help. Fix the features. Prioritize the features based on the first release of the app.

TIMELINE

Set milestones for app development. Timeline for app development should be drafted with requirement gathering, research, development and testing in mind. The business part of the app doesn’t come in the timeline. Timeline will undergo changes when there are changes in the requirement.

COMMUNICATING THE IDEA

The initial step is to convey your app’s idea to the developer. Ensure to cover all the features while describing to the developer. A research process has to be carried to ensure no loop holes are there in the user roles or use cases.

DESIGN

The next step in development is designing the wire frame. With the help of requirement document, used cases, features document and design inspirations, the designer will start with designing the wire-frame. Any requirement change should be made before the completion of the wire-frame. The next step is the visual design. An interactive VD can be made if the customer requires one for business purposes (this prototype can act like a model of the working app)

INTEGRATION

The design of the app will be integrated. The app development will begin and will be delivered on the basis of milestones set.

MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT

Most apps need version upgrades, regular maintenance, and other support. Who will handle those items? Don’t wait until after launch to ask your developer about supporting bug fixes and minor improvements.

TECHNICAL CHECKLIST

• Buy a developer account if it’s an iOS app
• Buy or rent a server if cloud is involved
• Buy a domain name
• Buy S3 storage for storing data in cloud
• Get a Slack account for communication
• Buy a private GitHub Repo

Once you’ve ticked all of these off (based on your app requirement) and you’ve assessed all of the above mentioned points, then it’s time to plunge into coding your app to life. Just follow all these pointers to the T and you’ll be able to build an app or if you need some help in that space, reach out to us, we’ll be happy to help 🙂

This article first appeared on Skcript.