The Most Important Points Nobody Told You Before You Started Specing That App

Make sure you get the “killer feature” right

In the rush to create the proverbial “killer app,” the tendency is to try to cram too much into too little space. That’s a recipe for disaster. Apps aren’t meant to be Swiss army knives — they are meant to be blunt hammers that do one thing very well. But just try telling that to a team of developers as they start to spec an app. Here is what you need to know before you start creating the specifications for an app.

Less is better than more

There are a few times in life when less is better than more. Specing out an app is one of those times. It’s tempting to come up with a laundry list of new features to include, or to try to make your app do everything that your competitor’s app does, but guess what? The more specs you establish up front, the longer and more arduous the software build is going to be. So if you’re an initial planning meeting trying to decide which features your app should have, don’t be the guy (or gal) in the meeting who says, “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” Famous last words, trust me.

The user experience is key

Not to get all obvious here, but you are not building this app for the techie who works in the cubicle next door — you are building this app for the average user who still might have a hard time figuring out the remote control for their TV. Therefore, you need to really focus on the overall user experience (UX). Is this app really something that people are going to be excited about using? And will they actually be able to figure out what they need to do next?

80 percent of the features you include are going to be worthless

OK, this one is going to be tough for software development teams to accept, but here goes: 80 percent of all features that you include are going to be worthless. Not worthless from a purely functional perspective — everything might end up working exactly as you draw it up. But from a customer’s perspective, they are going to be useless. This is really just another real-life application of the 80/20 Rule, which says that 20 percent of whatever you do is going to account for 80 percent of the value. App development is no different.

Make sure you get the “killer feature” right

Which naturally leads us to the next point — make sure you choose the right “20 percent.” If only 20 percent of all features are going to account for 80 percent of the value of the app, then you absolutely, positively need to get the killer feature right. Think of this way: a killer app deserves a killer feature. If you can’t walk out of a planning session absolutely jazzed about what the app is going to do, then it doesn’t have a killer feature.

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If you get these steps right, then you’ll be able to get all the specifications right for your new app. Don’t sleepwalk through this process — it’s this initial planning that will set you up for success later.

Hey! I’m Tomer, an entrepreneur and maker. You might know me from Mevee, Crane and Shots, among other products I’ve launched! This article is a part in a larger series I’m writing mostly based on my experiences and is largely made of my and my team’s opinions.

I hope this helps you to avoid making the same mistakes I did, and remember to keep shipping!

This article is part of a series The Most Important Points Nobody Told You Before:

1. You Started Building That App
2. You Started Writing
3. Started Marketing That App
4. Started Testing That App
5. Started Specing That App