Before you do something, you should always have a plan. Having a plan increases your chance of success. It also lets you have a roadmap of your project to make navigating through the project easier.
When it comes to developing an application, things are no different. You will need to have your application planned out before even writing a line of code. As software developers, we are exposed to the development phase, but not always everything else outside of development. This can make a big difference between whether your application will succeed or not. There are many things you should have clear before development, but there are five crucial ones that will influence the success of your application.
1. Know What Platforms You Are Developing For
Before development you must decide on which platform(s) you’ll be developing your application for. Is it desktop, mobile, or both? Do you plan to localize (expand to different languages)? Knowing what platforms you’ll be developing for will give you a clear idea of what technologies you can and can’t use.
It is also important to consider your available resources when deciding on which platforms to support. If you have a small team of developers, you might not want to be concurrently working on a desktop and mobile version. It would be better to focus on supporting one platform and do it really well then move on to the other platforms later down the line.
2. Know What Monetization Model Are You Using
Unless you plan to open source your application, chances are you expect to make some money from your application. The problem is that most developers get so fixated by the functionalities of their application that they completely forget about the monetization side of their application. They wait until the application is complete to think about monetization and at that point, it is too late. The functionalities of the app put a limit on the kind of monetization methods they can use.
When you think about the monetization model that your application will employ before development, it will allow you to design your application better. You can develop your application with the monetization method in mind so that it fits the flow of the app and not hurt the user experience.
3. Know What Features Your App Will Have
This one seems to be obvious, but you’ll be surprised by how often developers just have an idea and then run with it. Along the way, they add features that are cool but might not serve a real purpose from the perspective of a user. In the end, the developer had created a product that is filled with features that are considered useless by the users.
To avoid such a disaster, figure out which features are necessary and which are nice to have (optional). Not only does having a list of features split up this way help you prioritize what to develop, it also let’s you create a better roadmap for development. Another perk to having a list of features before development is that it is easy to make changes to the list of features. It is hard to make changes to a feature when it is in code.
4. Know How the User Interface Will Be
Bad user interfaces can easily kill an application more than anything else. It doesn’t matter if your application contains the best and most useful set of features if your users can’t get to them.
So, how exactly can you create better user interfaces (UIs)? You need to put yourself in the position of your users and think how they would use your application. Then you can create a wireframe and mockup of each UI in your application. The benefits of this are that since no code has been written, making changes is much easier to do.
A simple and intuitive UI is key to any application because that is what the user sees and interact with. The better the user experience the more likely your users are to stick around. Over time, this will create a loyal fanbase for your software.
5. How You Will Market The Application
Marketing is often a piece of the equation to a successful application that many developers don’t think about. They go through all the trouble of creating the application and doing close to no marketing. They put off marketing until they are finished with the product and wonder why they get so few users after launch.
Marketing is key to building attraction to your application. So, it should not be something you do at the end but at the start instead. Think about it for a moment, this application you’re building is something new and unique. It would make sense that nobody knows about your product that is in development. Therefore, you got to let them know what is coming and, in this case, you would do it through marketing.
When you market your application in concurrent with the development of it, you start to create a following. You get people talking and some waiting in anticipation for the release of the product. You get feedback from your audience that can improve your application even though it is in development. So, when it finally comes time for you to launch your application there are already people waiting. In addition, your application is more likely to address the need of the majority of your userbase.
I hope this post was helpful to you. If you found this post helpful, share it with others so they can benefit too.
What are your experiences with launching an application? Would you agree with the points in this post? What would you add or change?
To get in touch, you can follow me on Twitter, leave a comment, or send me an email at steven@brightdevelopers.com.