The Proper Velocity to Building a Strong App
We all know by now that it takes up to 9 months for women to produce a baby, right? There is no way around that rate of progression – not even if you put 9 women in a room to make a baby within a month. We’re not saying that developing an app is like producing a baby but there are certain velocity boundaries that are set for a reason. The real question is, “how fast can we go?”
There is a proper speed that we set for ourselves when developing an app for a client, and for good reason. If we try to go too fast the app just might explode! Well, maybe that’s a little extreme but frankly, it’s not a race to the finish line. Our promise to each client is that we provide a fully staffed team that takes the time that’s needed to create a brilliantly functional app. When you go too fast, things tend to get sloppy – that can be related to almost anything you do in life. You skip steps along the way to speed up the process of not testing the app properly, and your app “comes out shitty.” No one wants an app filled with bugs. It makes more sense to take your time in the first round to ensure you didn’t skip through to the end, because who wants to retrace their steps to see where they went wrong? That’s almost as irritating as proofreading a 10-page paper.
There’s a lot that goes into building an app and plenty of hats are being worn. In one project, depending on the size, we provide a team of at least 7 people to develop your app in a solid 3 to 4 months. You have your Back End Developer who is working only on the server programming, and there are normally 1 or 2 of these. To keep your project on task, you have a Project Manager that holds “daily stand-ups” with their development team to discuss what needs to be done that day. Next, are the ever famous Mobile Developers – on a typical project you’ll have 2 developers at your disposal, usually a Sr. and a Jr. Developer per platform. If you’re looking to make your app accessible to both iOS and Android devices then your project will have close to 4 developers. Furthermore, we can’t forget about what your users are all hyped up about: User Designers and Graphic Designers who oversee the project and provide it with all the knick-knacks that kick up the popularity of your app.
There is such thing as going too slow, and it’s something everyone should avoid if you want to get something done. A lot of negative things tend to happen when you work on a project longer than necessary. For instance, you don’t have the proper attention of a developer. If you only want to meet with a developer once a week for a few hours you’re only going to have so much of his/her attention, and the project is going to be put on the backburner. There are certain processes that require more time than others; inside the code, we have to properly document each step taken so that if anyone were to pick up where we left off, they could easily understand what was done and how to proceed.
Typically apps require a 30-day design phase, and then take 12 weeks of development and testing before they make it to the app market. During each project, we advise our clients on the proper pace it will take to ensure their app is developed accurately. What if your app becomes the next Uber? The foundation is extremely important – if you want to build it right, then it needs to be done at the right velocity.
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