How do you bring your app idea to life?

Despite the external similarity and even a certain template of the projects, we note that each of them is personalized. Somewhere, for the sake of reducing terms, and will be more rational to combine the stages; somewhere, on the contrary, it is advisable to go through each of them as carefully as possible. What to do with an app idea?

In general, implementing an app idea involves the following sequence of steps:

Product analytics.
Specification and Wireframes.
Evaluation and planning.
Design.
Programming.
Testing.
Launch.

Below we’ll look at the more detailed path of the app from app idea validation to the final — transferring it to the client and publishing it in the app store.

Table of Contents

App idea analytics

So, you’ve got a great app idea and the vision of what functions it contains, what tasks it solves and who will use it. But it’s not enough to start a project with just a concept. You need a comprehensive analysis of the app’s potential, followed by a systematization of the data.

Tasks:

to segment the target audience (TA);
to define popular models of user interaction with similar services;
to do a study of product competitiveness;
to formulate a unique selling proposition (USP);
to construct hypotheses to explain the motives of visitors’ behavior;
to form the criteria of a minimally possible product (MVP).

The metrics used in the data search differ depending on the niche the product belongs to and the tasks solved with its help. You should not ignore this point, because the wrong tracking criteria will give you an inaccurate sample.

The collection and systematization of information preceding the process of app idea implementation is an important stage. Qualitatively conducted product analytics greatly facilitates the adaptation of the product to the needs of the CA, ultimately reducing the cost and time spent on implementing a mobile app.

Specification and Wireframes for app idea implementation

The goal of the stage is to formulate detailed technical requirements for the functionality and design of the mobile app. The goal is to provide the development team with a clear understanding of the plan of app idea implementation.

Specification — a roadmap specifying the requirements for a software product. The document serves as a base for formulating and fixing general theses, functions and loads of the software which are clear to interested parties.

Although the details of the specification may change with the new task, the “core” of the requirements remains constant. Its components are:

Introduction — goals, terms, presentation of the CA, scope of the project;
Description — vision and functionality of the program, detailed user classification, operating environment, standards, assumptions and dependencies;
Requirements for external interfaces — user interface (UX), software, hardware and communications;
Non-functional requirements — performance, data privacy and system security, product quality criteria;
Other — glossary, a catalog of process models, a list of basic tasks.

In contrast to the terms of reference, the specification does not describe the technique used to achieve the results. But only specifies the criteria for implementing the project, leaving the choice of tools and solutions to the developer’s discretion.

Important: The description of all entities, scenarios, and requirements should be as precise as possible, free of ambiguity, and understandable to anyone concerned with the document.

Wireframe — a visual schematic of the page, an outline of the structure that captures the idea of the arrangement and interaction of elements, without complex, time-consuming rendering. The schematic is usually done in gray and white and shows, with varying degrees of detail, the user’s path for a single page or the entire site.

The joint result of using the specification and Wireframes allows you to obtain a clear, extremely formalized structure of the future application and objectively evaluate the resource intensity of app idea implementation.

Evaluation and planning

The purpose of this step is to estimate the amount of work by converting the labor involved in making the app idea into a ready product into units that are easy to measure. Data for the estimates are taken from the specification. Basic points of the final document:

Demonstration of the product structure (total amount of work);
The timetable for the participation of subject matter experts in the project;
Cost of works;
Terms of implementation;
Assessment of the likelihood of risk situations with a list of prevention and elimination measures.

Design

The task of the stage is to develop graphics: screens, backgrounds, buttons, font pairs. In parallel, a usability check: ergonomics and comfort of interaction with the page elements is carried out. Work on the design includes the following phases:

Building a design concept — a unique artistic style of the product, branding;
Creation of the UI-kit — a set of ready-to-use elements and user interface templates;
Creation of a design layout — a visual image of a mobile application demonstrating the appearance of pages after layout and with different content options;
Dynamic prototype — an interactive animated version of the product that enables the user to assess the interface quality.
The design is the first thing a user sees when installing or opening a mobile app. High-quality graphics, well-thought-out arrangement of buttons and skillfully selected color schemes create the right mood and spur the visitor to the target action.

Programming

The task of the stage — code writing, architecture building, Back-end and Front-end development. The MVP tactic is used for complex and complicated projects.

There are two types of application implementation:

Native — developing a separate version of the mobile app for each platform;
Cross-platform — using code that is universal for all platforms.

Regarding technique, flexibility of settings and quality of interfaces, native development is more relevant. but it has a higher cost for two versions of the application in relation to cross-platform development.

Testing

The task of the stage is to test the implemented app idea to detect flaws and bugs. Considering the variety of devices, operating systems, firmware, and configurations of the software under development, it is difficult to foresee all the negative scenarios.

The purpose of checking the product for stability, compatibility and security is achieved by engaging a specialist tester, who checks the UI/UX functionality, clarifies the quality and order of permission requests, establishes the fault tolerance of databases, etc.

Based on the results of testing, a report is generated with a detailed list of errors and recommendations for fixing them.

Launching the application

The task of this stage is to deliver the mobile application to the customer and/or publish it in the application stores, after which the product can be moved to the support stage or the collaboration can be completed.

Keep in mind that software undergoes moderation in the app store before appearing in the public domain. The duration of the procedure depends on the workload of the store’s staff, the category of the application, and the credibility of the developer.

Conclusion

The average time to implement an app idea usually takes from four months. Developing a mobile app requires coordinated teamwork, and the level of expertise of each specialist is important for the result.

app idea to life